Risk of cardiovascular disease after a diagnosis of common psychiatric disorders: a matched cohort study of disease susceptibility and progression trajectory in the UK Biobank

Abstract Background Whether associations between psychiatric disorders and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) can be modified by disease susceptibility and the temporal pattern of these associated CVDs remain unknown. Methods We conducted a matched cohort study of UK Biobank including 35,227 patients with common psychiatry disorders (anxiety, depression, and stress-related disorders) between 1997 and 2019, together with 176,135 sex- and birth year-individually matched unexposed individuals. Results The mean age at the index date was 51.76 years, and 66.0% of participants were females. During a mean follow-up of 11.94 years, we observed an elevated risk of CVD among patients with studied psychiatry disorders, compared with matched unexposed individuals (hazard ratios HRs=1.16, 95% confidence interval CI: 1.14-1.19), especially during the first six months of follow-up (HR=1.59 1.42-1.79). To assess the modification role of disease susceptibility, we stratified analyses by family history of CVD and by CVD PRS, which obtained similar estimates between subgroups with different susceptibilities to CVD. We conducted trajectory analysis to visualize the temporal pattern of CVDs after common psychiatry disorders, identifying primary hypertension, acute myocardial infarction, and stroke as three main intermediate steps leading to further increased risk of other CVDs. Conclusions The association between common psychiatry disorders and subsequent CVD is not modified by predisposition to CVD. Hypertension, acute myocardial infarction, and stroke are three initial CVDs linking psychiatric disorders to other CVD squeals, highlighting a need of timely intervention on these targets to prevent further CVD squeals among all individuals with common psychiatric disorders.