Editorial
Depression, migraine, and cardiovascular disease: Sadness really can break your heart

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Background

Depression increases the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) by 1.5 to 2 times in healthy individuals, and depression in CVD patients increases the risk for cardiac morbidity and mortality by 1.5 to 2.5 times [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7]. Psychosocial stressors (although not specific to depression) are also associated with significantly increased risk of myocardial infarction (MI) almost roughly equivalent to the risks associated with smoking and diabetes and higher than the risk of

Summary

Depression, migraine, and CVD are common disorders with a major impact on personal and social function and a major financial cost to society. These illnesses are highly comorbid, and there are multiple proposed pathways to account for these associations, none of which have been proven as causative factors in the associations between these conditions. Nonetheless, patients with CVD should be screened for depression, and the articles described in this issue extend the range of tools that are

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