The leading cause of this premature death is heart disease.
These findings underline the importance of tapping into these tools earlier.
The link between serious mental illness and heart disease risk is complex.
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Factors like smoking, obesity, and diabetes contribute to risk, the study found.
The study was published in theJournal of the American Heart Associationin early March.
How Is Cardiovascular Risk Assessed?
There are different assessments that measure cardiovascular disease risk.
What Classifies As a Serious Mental Illness?
In 2020, nearly 6% of U.S. adults were diagnosed with one.
Individuals with these diagnoses were more likely to have cardiovascular disease than people without.
They also controlled for age, sex, race, ethnicity, and insurance bang out.
Between those with and without serious mental illness, there were significant differences.
This offers a look into general community health.
These factors could have all contributed to the risk differences observed.
Need for Earlier Screening
The data underlines the importance of assessing heart disease risk earlier.
Ideally, Rossom said, risk would be assessed as early as 18especially in individuals with serious mental illness.
Itd be as simple as making these risk estimates part of the check-up routine.
Although implementing these questionnaires is simple, it might not be all that easy.
Betterintegrationbetween health care systems and reducing stigma around mental illness may help encourage that these recommendations be followed.
This link is more sociopolitical than medical, Todman said.
Take the well-documented inverse relationship between schizophrenia and income/class, Todman said.
This makes the cardiovascular risk-mental illness association part of a larger social justice issue, he said.
Earlier screening for heart disease, then, can support everyone.
you might also assess your ownrisk online for free.
It may then be helpful to discuss your findings with a healthcare provider.
2022;11(6):e021444.
doi:10.1161/jaha.121.021444
MedlinePlus.Heart disease risk assessment.
National Institute of Mental Health.Mental illness.
2020;77(1):17-24. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.2299
