Association between arterial stiffness, stress and depression among undergraduate medical students in India

TL;DR

This study found that stress and depression in Indian medical students are linked to early signs of arterial stiffness, suggesting mental health could predict future heart issues.

Contribution

The study demonstrates that psychological factors are associated with arterial stiffness in young medical students, suggesting mental health screening could predict cardiovascular risk.

Findings

Mild depression was present in 92.2% of participants.

Depression scores correlated significantly with arterial stiffness measures like baPWV, CFPWV, and ABI.

Abstract

Arterial stiffness independently predicts cardiovascular events, with psychological factors potentially contributing to early vascular
alterations in young populations. Therefore, it is of interest to investigate of 153 undergraduate medical students to examine relationships
between psychological stress, depression and arterial stiffness measures (brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity, carotid-femoral pulse wave
velocity, brachial-ankle stiffness index and ankle-brachial index) assessed via Beck's Depression Inventory and Perceived Stress Scale.
Our findings revealed mild depression in 92.2% and mild stress in 83.7% of participants, demonstrating significant associations between
depression scores and average baPWV (r=0.028, p=0.030), CFPWV (r=0.030, p=0.015), average BASI (r=0.085, p=0.029) and average ABI (r=0.333,
p<0.001). Thus, we show that psychological screening tools may function as early cardiovascular risk markers, supporting implementation
of comprehensive mental health and cardiovascular prevention initiatives for medical students.