According to a new study involving 6.5 million individuals, young adults in their 20s and 30s with mental health disorders are up to three times as likely to have a stroke.
Researchers found that lifestyle behaviours did not explain this excess risk. 1 in 8 of the 20-to-39-year-old participants had a form of mental illness, including depression, anxiety and insomnia.
Study author, Professor Eue-Keun Choi, says: “Psychological problems were common in young adults and had strong links with cardiovascular health.
“The findings indicate that these individuals should receive regular health check-ups and medication if appropriate to prevent myocardial infarction and stroke. While lifestyle behaviours did not explain the excess cardiovascular risk, this does not mean that healthier habits would not improve prognosis. Lifestyle modification should therefore be recommended to young adults with mental disorders to boost heart health.”
This study had the main focus of the association between mental disorders in adults between 20 and 39-years-old and the risks of developing myocardial infarction and ischaemic stroke.
The study used the Korean National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) database which covers the country’s entire population. A total of 6,557,727 individuals aged 20 to 39 years who underwent health examinations between 2009 and 2012 and had no history of myocardial infarction or stroke were included in the study. The average age was 31 years, and more than half (58 per cent) of participants were 30 years or older.
856,927 (13.1 per cent) participants reported that they had at least one mental disorder. Among those with mental disorders, nearly half (47.9 per cent) had anxiety, more than one in five (21.2 per cent) had depression and one in five (20.0 per cent) had insomnia.
More than one-quarter (27.9 per cent) of participants with mental health problems had somatoform disorder, while 2.7 per cent had substance use disorder, 1.3 per cent had bipolar disorder, 0.9 per cent had schizophrenia, 0.9 per cent had an eating disorder, 0.7 per cent had personality disorder and 0.4 per cent had post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Participants were followed until December 2018 for new-onset myocardial infarction and stroke. During a median follow up of 7.6 years, there were 16,133 myocardial infarctions and 10,509 strokes.
The authors examined the association between mental disorders and cardiovascular outcomes after adjusting for factors that could influence the relationships including age, sex, high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, metabolic syndrome, chronic kidney disease, smoking, alcohol, physical activity and income.
Participants with any mental disorder had a 58 per cent increased risk of myocardial infarction and 42 per cent increased risk of stroke compared to those with no mental disorder.
The risk of stroke was elevated for all mental health issues except PTSD and eating disorders, with hazard ratios ranging from 1.25 to 3.06. The hazard ratios for each condition were 3.06 for personality disorder, 2.95 for schizophrenia, 2.64 for bipolar disorder, 2.44 for substance use disorder, 1.60 for depression, 1.45 for insomnia, 1.38 for anxiety and 1.25 for somatoform disorder.
Study author, Dr. Chan Soon Park, says: “Patients with mental health problems are known to have a shorter life expectancy than the general population, with the majority of deaths due to physical illnesses. Our study shows that substantial numbers of young adults have at least one mental health problem, which may predispose them to heart attack and stroke. Future research should examine the cardiovascular benefits of managing psychological problems and monitoring heart health in this vulnerable group.”
