Featuring Dr. Lakshmi Yatham, MBBS, FRCPC, MRCPsych (UK)
Psychiatric Effects on Heart Disease
Duration: 1 minute, 6 seconds

Psychological factors are independent risk factors for coronary heart disease.

There’s research evidence suggesting that increased stress, social isolation, lack of support and a number of psychiatric illnesses such as depression, bipolar disorder and panic disorder all tend to increase the risk of coronary heart disease by 1.5 to 3-fold.

If you have had a heart attack recently and suffer from depression, that tends to affect your prognosis, the chances of you recovering from your heart attack.

So make sure you seek help for your depression because that will increase your chances of staying well from the cardiovascular point of view. If you have more questions about the relationship between stress, psychiatric conditions and heart disease, please make sure to speak with your family physician.

Presenter: Dr. Lakshmi Yatham, Psychiatrist, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Psychiatrist