Bipolar Disorder and Cardiovascular Health

            The article that I chose to write about talks about how people who have mental disorders are more likely to have heart disease. Data from the Canadian Community health survey was examined and it was determined that those who had experienced metal disorders in their life, whether it was bipolar disorder or another type of mental health disorder, where more likely to suffer from stroke or heart disease. This type of finding relates to a talk that we heard from this semester which was presented by Dr. Weisenbach, which mentioned a decreased Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) for individuals living with bipolar disorder.

According to Dr. Weisenbach’s research people with bipolar disorder have an overall diminished overall Health-quality of life. Dr. Weisenbach tested a number of individuals, ages 18 to 29 years and 50 to 65 years of age. According to Dr. Weisenbach’s research people living with bipolar disorder tend to have diminished qualities of life because of cognitive deficiencies that come with the disease. While those cognitive deficiencies, which include impaired reaction speeds and motor activities, are more severe in the older age group, the overall cognitive abilities of all individuals with bipolar disorder is below the those who do not have bipolar disorder.

The article that I found talks about a diminished quality of life due to bipolar disorder and the side effects of certain medications that come with it, which overall lead to a diminished quality of life. According to the research article, individuals who had bipolar disorder were twice as likely to develop heart disease or have a stroke compared to those who did not have bipolar disorder. The article also reported that individuals using medications to try and control their mental illness were twice as likely to develop heart disease and three times as likely to have a stroke. The increased risks for cardiovascular disease and stroke stems from a variety of factors according to the article and they include increased tobacco use, a more sedentary lifestyle, a poor diet, and increased alcohol use among other things.

According to the article and the research presented by Dr. Weisenbach, the increased risks for cardiovascular disease and stroke can be mitigated in patients with bipolar disorder. Proper assessments can be made by health care providers to make sure that the patients receiving the medications are not at high risk for other serious side effects. According to the news article, it is important to look at the overall health of patients and decide if the medications given to them will have a more serious debilitating effect on their overall health than other, maybe less effective, medications for their mental health condition. I think that Dr. Weisenbach’s research and the news article give various insightful and relevant research to the importance of looking at the overall health of a patient when treating a certain condition.

References

1.   Science News. (2104, October 31). People with mental health disorders twice as likely to have heart disease or stroke. Retrieved April 31, 2015, http://esciencenews.com/articles/2014/10/31/people.with.mental.health.disorders.twice.likely.have.heart.disease.or.stroke

2.   Weisenbach, S. L., Marshall, D., Weldon, A. L., Ryan, K. A., Vederman, A. C., Kamali, M., Zubieta, J., McInnis, M. G., & Langenecker, S. A. (2014). The double burden of age and disease on cognition and quality of life in bipolar disorder. International journal of geriatric psychiatry, 29(9), 952-961.