Severity of depression can increase chances of heart disease and stroke

A new research suggests that the severity of a person's depression may increase their odds of having heart disease or stroke. The results of the study were published in the journal of the American Heart Association.

"Cardiovascular diseases are impacted by and related to a variety of aspects of health and well-being including mental health," said study author.

"We found that the level of depression was strongly tied to living with heart disease and stroke, even after accounting for other factors that could impact risk, including the American Heart Association's Life's Simple 7 and variables of age, income, education, sex,,  race, and ethnicity."
 
Researchers examined the connection between depression and non-fatal heart diseases such as heart failure, coronary heart disease, angina, heart attack or stroke in US adults age 20 years and older. Using depression questionnaires completed in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), more than 11,000 adults diagnosed with depression were identified.

This represents 231 million adults in the general population. Of these, about 1,200 people (translated to 20 million in the general population) said they had been diagnosed with heart disease or stroke. An analysis to quantify the link for depression and non-fatal heart disease and stroke found that the odds increased by 24 percent with each additional level increase of depression-mild, moderate, moderately severe or severe.

"The implications of such an increase are vast," he said. "By understanding the relationship and degree of impact we can properly identify, prevent, treat and create policies and strategies to help decrease cardiovascular diseases and improve lives by tackling mental health and heart disease together." More studies are needed to determine if depression causes cardiovascular disease or cardiovascular disease causes depression, according to the authors.

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Kids become better problem solvers when reminded of their multiple roles

Parents wanting their kids to become good problem solvers and develop flexible thinking, should remind their little ones of the many roles they play - brother, sister, neighbour, daughter!

A new study brings out the fact that children become better problem-solvers if they are reminded of their roles as a son, friend, brother, to name a few.

"This is some of the first research on reminding kids about their multi-faceted selves. Such reminders boost their problem-solving skills and how flexibly they see their social worlds, all from a simple mindset switch," said the lead author.

Once kids are told about their identities, they also show flexible thinking about matters pertaining to race, or even other social groupings.

In a series of experiments, researchers looked at 196 children, ages 6 and 7 who were all native English speakers. In one experiment, the first group of children was reminded they have various identities, such as son, daughter, reader or helper. The second group of children was reminded of their multiple physical attributes (such as a mouth, arms and legs).

In another experiment, one group of children was again reminded they have various identities. A second set of children received similar prompts but about other children's many roles, not their own.

All the children then tackled a series of tasks. Children who were reminded of their various identities demonstrated stronger problem-solving and creative thinking skills.

For instance, when they were shown pictures of a bear gazing at a honey-filled beehive high up in a tree, these children had more creative ideas for how the bear might get the honey, such as flipping over a bowl so that it becomes a stool. In other words, they saw a new use for the bowl.

Children who were reminded of their multiple roles also showed more flexible thinking about social groupings. When asked to categorize different photos of faces, they suggested many ways to do so.

For instance, they identified smiling faces vs. unsmiling ones, and old vs. young faces. The other children, however, primarily grouped people's faces by race and gender.

Because these findings suggest simple ways to promote flexible, inclusive thinking for the young, they could be especially valuable for teachers.

The author said, "When we remind kids that they have various identities, they think beyond our society's default categories, and remember that there are many other groups in addition to race and gender."

"It opens their horizons to be a little more inclusive," the author opined.

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Social isolation increases death risk

Findings of a recent study have linked social isolation to a higher risk of death. The study, says addressing social isolation holds promise if studies show interventions are effective, as they could be relatively simple and could influence other risk factors, as social isolation is also associated with hypertension, inflammation, physical inactivity, smoking, and other health risks.

Social isolation has been linked to higher mortality in studies comprising mostly white adults, yet associations among black adults are unclear. The new prospective cohort study, evaluated whether associations of social isolation with all-cause, cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality differed by race and sex.

Investigators weighted several standard components of social isolation -marital status, the frequency of religious service attendance and club meetings/group activities, and a number of close friends/relatives--giving a score of 0 (least isolated) or 1 (most isolated) on each of the factors for a total on a 5-point isolation scale.
For instance, someone who was married, frequently attended religious services, attended club meetings and/or group activities, and had seven or more close friends were given an isolation score of 0. Someone with none of those would have an isolation score of 4.
They found overall, the race seemed to be a stronger predictor of social isolation than sex; white men and white women were more likely to be in the least isolated category than black men and women. In the full sample, a statistically significant, positive dose-response relationship was found between social isolation and all-cause mortality risk over the 30-year follow-up period. However, associations were significantly stronger in the first 15 years of follow up.

Social isolation score was positively associated with heart disease (CVD) mortality in all subgroups. Although there was a positive association between social isolation score and cancer mortality among white men and white women, there was no association between social isolation score and cancer mortality among black men or black women. Each social isolation component was associated with all-cause and CVD mortality, and all but one (having fewer close friends/relatives) was associated with cancer mortality.

"Current findings indicate that a composite measure of social isolation is a robust predictor of mortality risk among men, women, blacks, and whites," write the authors. "Compared with the least isolated, the most socially isolated black men and women had a more than the 2-fold higher risk of death from any cause, and white men and women had 60 per cent and 84 per cent greater risks of death, respectfully."

The authors say as the era of precision medicine develops, several influences on health, including social factors, are expected to become more important to clinical care. Addressing social isolation is aligned with this more holistic approach, they write, saying: "Lack of interpersonal connections seems particularly detrimental." 

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