Women 55 years of age and younger are twice as likely to suffer a heart attack if they are even moderately depressed.
Women struggling with moderate to severe depression were also twice as likely to require artery-opening procedures or pass away in the event of a heart attack, an American Heart Association news release reported.
"Women in this age group are also more likely to have depression, so this may be one of the 'hidden' risk factors that can help explain why women die at a disproportionately higher rate than men after a heart attack," Amit Shah, M.D., M.S.C.R., study author and assistant professor of Epidemiology at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., said in the news release.
Researchers looked at depression symptoms in 3,237 people who were known to or were suspected of having heart disease. The participants were all scheduled for a coronary angiography, which diagnoses arterial diseases that interfere with blood supply to the heart.
After a three year follow up researchers found that for every one-point increase in depression symptoms in women 55 years of age and younger there was about a seven percent increase in heart attack risk.
Women of this age group were also 2.45 times as likely to die from any cause during the follow-up period if they struggled with moderate to severe depression.
In men and older women there was not a correlation between depression and heart attack risk.
"All people, and especially younger women, need to take depression very seriously," Shah said. "Depression itself is a reason to take action, but knowing that it is associated with an increased risk of heart disease and death should motivate people to seek help."
"Providers need to ask more questions. They need to be aware that young women are especially vulnerable to depression, and that depression may increase the risk to their heart," Shah said.
