Apart from affecting psychological well-being, mental health conditions can also interfere with the body’s autonomic functions, creating physiological problems.
Previous studies have found that people with mental health conditions commonly experience reduced heart rate variation (HRV), which can indicate a poor stress response.
A new systematic review draws a link between mental illness and widely fluctuating blood pressure, which can lead to cardiovascular disease.
A new study has found that people with mental health conditions such as depression or anxiety may be more prone to experience cardiovascular problems.
Researchers behind this systematic review, published in the journal Biomedical Engineering Trusted Source, observed that mental health conditions may have an impact on autonomic functions, which may cause blood pressure to widely fluctuate.
“We know that people with mental health problems have [an] increased risk of cardiovascular events and organ damage,” Dr.LIM, one of the researchers behind the study and a research fellow at the University of South Australia, told Medical News Today.
Research so far on the relationship between blood pressure variability (BPV) and mental illness has been limited. This is important as BPV has been associated with coronary disease.
“We also know that people with higher blood pressure variation have higher cardiovascular risk. Our study now makes the connection between mental health problems with blood pressure and heart rate,” said Dr. Lim
The study adds to existing research establishing a link between mental health and physical well-being.
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is a complex network of cells that regulate involuntary physiologic processes like maintaining a constant internal temperature, regulating breathing patterns, keeping blood pressure steady, and moderating the heart rate.
Autonomic dysfunction is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Doctors assess heart rate variability (HRV), which is controlled by the ANS, to see the duration in time between heartbeats. Having a constantly changing heart rate has been linked with having a healthy regulatory system.
Correspondingly, a number of studies have reported an association between reduced HRV and depression and anxiety disorders — including generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
What the study found
Of the 12 studies, seven measured ultrashort term BPV (beat-to-beat blood pressure measurement over seconds to minutes), three measured short-term BPV (blood pressure fluctuations that occur over a 24-hour time period), and two measured long-term BPV (fluctuations that occur over days, weeks, or even years).
Five of the studies assessed BPV in adults aged 55 and older, while the remaining studies assessed BPV in adults between the ages of 18 and 46.
People with depression or anxiety had high BPV in the studies that measured short-term BPV. The studies measuring ultra-short-term BPV also found a significant association between BPV and mental illness.
The two studies that measured long-term BPV had mixed results, meaning the association between mental health conditions and long-term BPV is less clear.
The researchers from the University of South Australia and several universities in Malaysia write that early therapeutic intervention for mental illness “may prevent diseases associated with autonomic dysregulation and reduce the likelihood of negative cardiac outcomes.”
Does treatment make a difference?
Dr. Richard Wright, a cardiologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center, told MNT that the systematic review illustrates how mental illness, “at least in theory”, makes patients “more prone to having cardiac issues that we normally only thing would be attributable to atherosclerosis, and hypertension, old age, [etc.].”
“I think that’s the main importance of this kind of analysis: to point out that there are physical ramifications of these emotional issues,” he said.
Dr. Wright said additional research on what to do about the association between mental health and cardiovascular health would be helpful for healthcare practitioners.
“If you’re chronically depressed, and you have these issues where the autonomic nervous system is messed up, do you get better if your depression goes away?” he asked.
Specifically, he said it would like to see studies on whether BPV variability decreases with mental health treatments like talk therapy, meditation, or medication.
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