Purpose of review: It is well established that depression is associated with increased risk of incident coronary heart disease (CHD). The strong research focus on this particular comorbidity may obscure an appreciation of the breadth of mental disorder-medical comorbidities. Some of the most prevalent of these are highlighted in this review, which features recent research on epidemiological associations of depression and anxiety disorders with a range of cardiometabolic diseases. The clinical implications of this broader set of mental-physical connections are discussed.
Recent findings: New findings support the existence of an association between depression and a range of subtypes of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. The associations between anxiety and coronary heart disease are robust and there is emerging evidence of associations of anxiety with stroke and diabetes.
Summary: The predictive associations of mental disorders with incident medical diseases extend well beyond the established association between depression and CHD. The breadth of mental-physical associations suggests a need for greater clinical attention to the physical health and health-related behavior of young people with persistent mental disorders of all types, at the time of life when the seeds of mental-physical comorbidity are sown.