Cohort study
Shared and distinct pathways from anxiety disorder and depression to cardiovascular disease: a UK Biobank prospective cohort study
- Prospective cohort study
- causal mediation analysis
Authors' conclusion
Lifestyle and physical pathways to incident CVD may be common to both anxiety disorder and depression, but shared metabolic pathways seem unlikely.
Study context
- Population
- UK Biobank participants
- Participants
- 254,695 participants
- Exposure
- Anxiety disorder or depression vs neither
- Outcome
- Incident CVD and proportion of excess risk mediated by lifestyle, physical and metabolic factors
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Incident CVD and mediation
Anxiety disorder
11.9%
Mediated by current smoking · Mediated by higher waist-hip ratio 13.4% · Strongest metabolic mediator: SBP 10.4%
Depression
17.3%
Mediated by current smoking · Mediated by higher waist-hip ratio 14.0% · Strongest metabolic mediator: CRP 10.8% · Weakest mediator: SBP 4.3%
Hazard ratio (95% CI)
Anxiety disorder
1.62(1.15–2.13)
Depression
2.15(1.75–2.64)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Original publication
Shared and distinct pathways from anxiety disorder and depression to cardiovascular disease: a UK Biobank prospective cohort study. Eur J Prev Cardiol. Published 26 February 2025. doi:10.1093/eurjpc/zwaf110
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it