Depression raises risk of hypertension, CVD in adults

Depressive symptoms are common among Chinese adults aged >45 years and appear to increase the risk of incident hypertension and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), reveals a recent study.

The authors conducted this prospective cohort study to examine the relationships between trajectories of depressive symptoms and new-onset hypertension and CVDs among the Chinese middle-aged and older general population.

Data from a nationally representative sample of Chinese residents older than 45 years who had been recruited for the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) were obtained and used for the present analysis. The authors then assessed depressive symptoms using the 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10).

Overall, 6,071 participants were enrolled in the final analysis. The authors identified four trajectories of CES-D-10, namely low-stable, medium-decreasing, medium-increasing, and high-stable trajectories.

Of the participants, 1,668 (27.5 percent) had been newly diagnosed with hypertension and 959 (15.8 percent) with CVD until 2018. Compared with participants with a low-stable trajectory, those belonging to the other three trajectories were at significantly greater risk of hypertension and CVDs. Several sensitivity analyses revealed similar, robust findings.

In the restricted cubic spline, an S-shaped association was observed between the mean CES-D-10 score and hypertension or CVDs (p_nonlinear<0.001). Notably, hypertension partially mediated the relationship between CES-D-10 and CVDs.

“Depressive symptoms mediated the development of CVDs by promoting hypertension progression,” the authors said. “Immediate efforts are needed to improve depression management in China to further prevent CVDs.”