Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and mental health disorders (MHD) are respectively the first and second most prevalent diseases in high-income countries and the two most relevant causes of disability worldwide. The close association between the two conditions has been known for a long time and research has been able to document how the co-morbidity between cardiovascular disorders and mental health disorders is a negative prognostic factor for both conditions. This strong connection and the relevance of the impact of the association have led to define a new branch of cardiology, known as behavioral cardiology. The aim of the new branch is just to study the nexus CVD-MHD in order to prevent or decrease the burden of MHD on CVD and vice versa. This review describes the epidemiological evidence of the relationship between MHD on CVD at the state of the art among clinical research.
Keywords: Cardiovascular disease; anxiety disorder; bipolar disorder; depressive disorders; heart failure; mental health disorders; myocardial infarction; psychiatric disorder; schizophrenia; stress disorders.
© The Author(s) 2024.