Unlocking the Genetic Link: How Depression Could Elevate Your Heart Disease Risk

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital have discovered a potential genetic connection between significant depression and coronary artery disease that could lead to an elevated risk for cardiomyopathy, a degenerative heart muscle disease, through inflammatory pathways.

Their findings, which were released on April 5 in the journal Nature Mental Health, imply that medications given for depression and coronary artery disease may have anti-inflammatory and prophylactic effects when used together.

According to Lea Davis, PhD, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Genetic Medicine at Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, who is also the paper’s corresponding author, “this work suggests that chronic low-level inflammation may be a significant contributor to both depression and cardiovascular disease.”

It is well-known that depression links to other major health issues. Up to 44% of people with coronary artery disease (CAD), the most prevalent type of cardiovascular disease, receive a diagnosis of major depression. However, researchers have not yet discovered the biological link between the two illnesses.

Unraveling the Link: How Heart Disease, Depression, and Inflammation Intertwine at the Genetic Level

Inflammation may be a factor. Both illnesses show alterations in the levels of inflammatory markers, pointing to a potential molecular mechanism connecting neuroinflammation in depression with atherosclerosis inflammation in CAD.

Researchers used transcriptome-wide association scans to map single nucleotide polymorphisms linked to gene expression in CAD and depression.

Researchers identified 185 genes enriched for inflammation and cardiomyopathy, strongly linked to both depression and CAD. Findings suggest that susceptibility to (m)dCAD may elevate the risk of developing cardiomyopathy.

Researchers found patients with enriched genes for (m)dCAD had a lower cardiomyopathy incidence than those with CAD alone.

Researchers suggest statins and antidepressants may prevent cardiomyopathy in CAD and depression by reducing inflammation.

Connecting the Dots: New Research Unveils the Heart-Brain Health Link in Depression Treatment

Davis emphasized the need to integrate heart and brain health when treating depression or cardiovascular disease in patients.

The first author of the research, Kritika Singh, PhD, is a postdoctoral Innovation Fellow at Novartis in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She was a graduate student in the Davis lab before joining the company.

Co-authors from VUMC include Quinn Wells, Emily Hodges, Tyne Miller-Fleming, and Nancy Cox, among other distinguished researchers. The American Heart Association Fellowship and the National Institutes of Health grants R56MH120736, R01H118233, 1F31MH124306, and 1R01HL140074 funded the research.