High resting heart rate, blood pressure linked to poor mental health

Many mental health disorders are co-morbid with abnormalities in heart function and blood pressure. A new study from the University of Helsinki sought to determine if problems with heart rate and resting blood pressure precede psychiatric illness.

Using heart rate and blood pressure measurements from the Swedish army, researchers determined that men whose resting heart rate was higher than 82 beats per minute during their youth were 69 percent more likely to be diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder later in life than men whose resting heart rate was lower than 62 beats per minute.

The risk for schizophrenia increased by 21 percent and the risk of anxiety disorders increased by 18 percent.

Body mass index, socioeconomic status, ethnic background, cognitive ability and physical fitness were not found to contribute to the correlation between psychiatric disorders and heart rate or blood pressure.

"Our observations indicate that differences in physiological responses, such as stress reactions, are linked to the risk of mental disorders,” University of Helsinki postdoctoral researcher Antti Latvala said. “It is also known that psychiatric illnesses are associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Our results open new opportunities for studying this connection as well.”