Psychological distress and myocardial infarction (MI): A cross-sectional and longitudinal UK population-based study

The objective of the present research is to establish the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between dimensions of psychological distress (i.e., social dysfunction and anhedonia, depression and anxiety, and loss of confidence) and the risk of clinically diagnosed myocardial infarction (MI).

We analyzed valid data from 12931 participants from Wave 1 (collected from 2009 to 2010) and who continued to participate until Wave 10 (collected from 2019 to 2020, N = 5117) of the Understanding Society: the UK Household Longitudinal Study using a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and binary logistic regressions.

There were three factors including social dysfunction and anhedonia, depression and anxiety, and loss of confidence within the GHQ-12. Social dysfunction and anhedonia continued to show significant positive associations with the chance of past clinical MI diagnosis (OR = 1.24, 95% CI [1.13, 1.35], p < .001) and the risk of developing MI over the 10-year period (OR = 1.23, 95% CI [1.01, 1.49], p < .05). In addition, age showed a significant positive association with the risk of developing MI over time (OR = 1.04, 95% CI [1.01, 1.06], p < .01). Sex maintained a significant negative association (OR = 0.30, 95% CI [0.21, 0.44], p < .001). Hypertension status demonstrated a strong positive association over time (OR = 1.52, 95% CI [1.08, 2.15], p < .05).

Intervention and prevention programs may be required for individuals with high social dysfunction and anhedonia levels to reduce the prevalence of MI and the risk of developing MI over time.