Heart disease linked to depression, loneliness, unemployment and poverty

Social stress factors such as loneliness and being unemployed, in addition to conventional risks such as smoking and high blood pressure, are associated with higher risks of developing heart disease, according to a new UCL-led study. The study, published by PLOS Medicine this week, analysed cohort data from three eastern European countries and found that heart disease incidence is more likely among people who rarely see their friends and relatives, are single, unemployed, less wealthy, and have depression-like symptoms. The researchers focused on eastern European countries because heart disease rates are higher there than anywhere else in the world. The researchers found that that these social stress factors were independent of one another, meaning that more wealth will not necessarily lead to better health and having good relationships, as well as keeping a happy outlook on life, are equally important. "Previously the impact of these factors have been studied in isolation, so it has been unclear whether one of these factors is the most important root cause. For example, the potential effects of factors such as unemployment and social isolation were thought to be the link between poverty and heart disease," explained Dr Taavi Tillmann (UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Public Health), the first author of the study. "This study, however, is one of the largest to have examined multiple stress-related factors and found that each factor is independently important.