The interactions between physical and mental health are so numerous that scientists are now trying to assess the extent to which one impacts the other on a daily basis. Such is the case of recent research led by Swedish scientists, who suggest that women experiencing depression during and after pregnancy are at greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

While this isn’t the first time mental health disorders have been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, this new study by researchers from Sweden, Iceland and the US focuses specifically on women.

The scientists report that women who experience depression during pregnancy and after childbirth are at greater risk of cardiovascular disease, representing one in five women worldwide. They also point out that this phenomenon can persist for up to 20 years after perinatal depression is diagnosed.

“Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death globally and there has been an ongoing discussion about including reproductive health when assessing the risk among women. We wanted to know if a history of perinatal depression could help predict cardiovascular disease risk,” explained researcher Dr Donghao Lu of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm.

This research is based on the analysis of data from 55,539 Swedish women diagnosed with perinatal depression (depression during pregnancy and after childbirth) between 2001 and 2014, compared with another group made up of 545,567 Swedish women who gave birth during the same period but were not diagnosed with perinatal depression.

This data was sourced from the Swedish Medical Birth Register. Participants were then followed until 2020 to determine whether or not they went on to develop cardiovascular disease.

Published in the European Heart Journal, the study reports that 6.4% of women with a diagnosis of perinatal depression developed cardiovascular disease, compared with 3.7% of women without such a diagnosis. The scientists point out that this represents a 36% higher risk of developing such a disease.

In detail, the risk increases most for arterial hypertension (+50%), ischemic heart disease (+37%) and heart failure (+36%).

“Our findings may help identify people who are at a higher risk of cardiovascular disease so that steps can be taken to reduce this risk, and also adds to the established health risks of perinatal depression,” said lead author Dr Emma Bränn.

“We know that perinatal depression is both preventable and treatable, and for many people it’s the first episode of depression they’ve ever experienced. Our findings provide more reason for ensuring maternal care is holistic, with equal attention on both physical and mental health.”