Key result
Anxiety is linked to higher MACE risk in CVD, suggesting a therapeutic role for benzodiazepines.
Why the study?
The relationship between anxiety and cardiovascular disease is increasingly recognized, but the potential benefits of benzodiazepines for patients with CVD and anxiety have received less attention.
This review highlights the association between anxiety and cardiovascular disease, suggesting that anxiolytic medications like benzodiazepines may offer potential benefits for this patient population.
Association alone should not prompt benzodiazepine use in CVD; leaves open whether treating anxiety reduces MACE, requiring RCTs.
The relationship between anxiety and cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been known and well-documented for decades. Though more attention has been paid to the relationship between depression and CVD, the evidence of the relationship between anxiety and CVD has been growing. For instance, Goodwin et al. (2009) documented that anxiety disorders are strongly and significantly associated with CVD among adults in the USA. Frasure-Smith and Lesperance (2008), among others, found that, not just depression but also anxiety predicted a greater risk of major adverse cardiac events such as cardiac death, myocardial infarction, or cardiac arrest in patients with stable coronary artery disease. Less attention has been paid to the possible benefits of anxiolytic medications, such as benzodiazepines (BZs), for patients with CVD and anxiety or possible full-blown anxiety disorder.
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Balon et al. (2018) conducted a review in Cardiovascular disease and anxiety. Benzodiazepines was evaluated. Anxiety is associated with a greater risk of major adverse cardiac events in patients with cardiovascular disease, suggesting a potential therapeutic role for benzodiazepines.
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