Psychological health and ischemic heart disease in women: A review of current evidence and clinical considerations across the healthspan

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Curr Atheroscler Rep
• Personal Author:
  Gaffey, Allison E. ; Spatz, Erica S.
• Description:
  PURPOSE OF THE REVIEW:
  
  Psychological health encompasses a constellation of negative and positive factors – i.e., psychosocial stress, depression, anxiety, trauma, loneliness and social isolation, anger and hostility, optimism, and a sense of purpose. This narrative review presents current evidence for the intersection of psychological health, risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD), and IHD-related outcomes, with an emphasis on associations in women.
  
  Recent Findings:
  
  For women, relations between psychological health and IHD reflect important sex and gender differences in biological and psychosocial factors. Although efforts devoted to understanding psychological health and IHD risk have varied by psychological factor – scientific evidence is strongest for depression, while anxiety, trauma, and positive psychological factors warrant more investigation – less optimal psychological health was consistently associated with an earlier and greater risk of IHD morbidity and mortality in women. Still, many past prospective studies of psychological factors and IHD risk had a limited representation of women, did not include analyses by sex, or failed to account for other influential, sex-specific factors. Thus, there are multiple pathways for further, rigorous investigation into psychological health-IHD associations, mechanisms, and empirically-supported psychological interventions to mitigate IHD risk among women.
  
  Summary:
  
  Given the robust evidence linking psychological health with women’s risk for IHD, implementing routine psychological assessment is recommended. Significant life events, developmental milestones specific to women, and IHD diagnoses or events could cue additional psychological assessment, which will mutually strengthen the evidence for integrated psychological and IHD care and delivery of that care to this vulnerable group.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Anger Anxiety Female Humans Male Myocardial Ischemia Prospective Studies Risk Factors
• Keywords:
  Heart Ischemic Heart Disease Mental Health Psychological Health Women
• Source:
  Curr Atheroscler Rep. 26(3):45-58
• Pubmed ID:
  38240928
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC11219074
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  R01 HL151240/HL/NHLBI NIH HHSUnited States/ ; K23HL168233/HL/NHLBI NIH HHSUnited States/ ; R01HL151240/HL/NHLBI NIH HHSUnited States/ ; 20042801-Sub01/CC/CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U01 FD005938/FD/FDA HHSUnited States/ ; K23 HL168233/HL/NHLBI NIH HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  26
• Issue:
  3
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:3295d15ef196c466b67baf19eea7290af8aa20d7d902f84860e63c1022295dee
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/158487/cdc_158487_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 208.04 KB ]