Depression, heart disease, inflammation – and the good news!
Recently I attended a conference at the Royal Society of Medicine.
The subject areas were linked to depression, heart disease, inflammation, and new approaches to treating depression. The conference lasted all day with back to back lectures. Naturally there was a lot of information on various studies, so it is not possible to go into detail here. However, here are some references to recent findings.
Carney, R.M. and Freedland, K.E.(March 2017) took part in a study (cited in Nature Reviews Cardiology (2017) Demonstrating that depression is a higher risk in those with coronary heart disease (CHD)… Some studies suggest that prognosis improves when depression improves. Therefore, more research into reliable treatments for depression is needed; in addition to further research on the biobehavioural mechanisms linking depression to CHD.
US National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health
What causes the link between CHD (Chronic Heart Disease) and depression? This is likely to be due to increased anxiety. The anxiety is likely to be due to fear, shock, worry about their future health and life, and worry about death. However, in the first place CHD has certain contributing factors such as poor diet, lack of exercise, smoking, the intake of alcohol in excess of recommended levels, and the release of certain hormones into the blood stream that are activated by worry and stress.
Among the works cited were: Psychosocial factors, depression, and illness...
Stansfeld, S., & Rasul, F. (2007). Psychosocial factors, depression and illness. In A. Steptoe (Ed.), Depression and physical illness (pp. 19-49). New York, NY, US: Cambridge University Press https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2007-18511-002
And Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Depression and Anxiety in Patients
with Cardiovascular Disease : A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Reavell, J., et al (2018) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30281027
The good news!
After listening to somewhat depressing : ) news, there followed some very positive insights into the role of gut microbe and targeting inflammation to treat depression. Professor Ed Bullmore presented findings where he said depression is set to become the biggest single cause of disability in 2020; and he questioned if there had actually been much progress in finding a reliable intervention in the past thirty years. He went on to say about one third of patients do not respond well to anti-depressant drugs and about one-third of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) have increased peripheral IL6 or CRP levels in their blood.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interleukin_6 and https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322138.php
Professor Bullmore explained how Western medicine has separated a patients mental health from their physical health symptoms and made the point that these, in fact, are interactive.
https://www.bna.org.uk/mediacentre/news/inflamed-depression/
Listen to what he has to say here: https://youtu.be/iw7b0-yTnT0
Stress & the gut-brain axis: Regulation by the microbiome, Foster, J.A et al (2017)
Also see Ted Dinan MD, PhD. The Dana Foundation, https://youtu.be/Xbph28ZJC1U and
Dr Dinan explained that without a normal gut microbiota the brain does not develop normally. Good gut microbiota depends on circadian rhythm, diet, host genome, age, and geography… There are other factors that can influence it such as caesarean birth which does not give the new born access to natural microbes in the mother’s vagina. Professor Dinan went on to say that having a good diet can help develop good gut bacteria and suggested eating prebiotic foods such as wheat (if not intolerant of course), Jerusalem artichoke, onions, leeks, potatoes (cooked and cooled), and jicama
PLEASE NOTE: The writer of this article is not a medical doctor. If you have symptoms of depression or have any gut/digestive issues then please consult your medical doctor for advice.
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