Even Mild Depression, Anxiety Hurts the Heart: Study

Even mild depression or anxiety may raise your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and other causes, according to British researchers.

And the greater the level of psychological distress, the higher the odds of death from heart disease, the researchers say.

"The fact that an increased risk of mortality was evident, even at low levels of psychological distress, should prompt research into whether treatment of these very common, minor symptoms can reduce this increased risk of death," said lead researcher Tom Russ, a clinical research fellow at the Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Center of the University of Edinburgh.

For the study, published online July 31 in BMJ, Russ and colleagues analyzed 10 studies of men and women enrolled in the Health Survey for England from 1994 to 2004. Data on more than 68,000 adults aged 35 and older was included overall.