The findings of the study will be presented at the meeting of the American Heart Association (AHA), which will be held from November 11 to 13. A brief overview is given by Medical Xpress, reports lenta.ru.

In the course of the work, the data of 71 thousand people with an average age of 49 years were analyzed, 45 percent of the subjects were men. The information was collected between 2010 and 2020. In some subjects, a genetic predisposition was taken into account in the form of a special sensitivity to stress. About 16 percent of participants took medications for anxiety disorder or depression, but after adjustment, this indicator did not have a significant impact on the results.

Scientists found that 38 percent of all the subjects during the follow-up developed a new risk factor for cardiovascular diseases: high blood pressure, high cholesterol or type 2 diabetes.

Those participants who had previously been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder or depression developed a new risk factor on average six months earlier within five years than those who did not have mental illness. On average, depression and anxiety increased the likelihood of serious cardiovascular events by about 35 percent.

At the same time, people with a high genetic predisposition to stress developed the first cardiovascular risk factor at a younger age (on average 1.5 years earlier than people without a genetic predisposition).