The impact of heart and mind
“A new national report found while great reductions have been made in the number of Australians having cardiovascular events, such as strokes and heart attacks, there’s been an unexpected rise in young and middle-aged women. That increase is striking.
“Women share commonly tested cardiac risk factors like cholesterol and blood pressure with men, but also have some unique indicators, like pregnancy-related complications.
“They are also typically unaware their experiences of depression or anxiety could put them at greater risk of cardiac disease.”
Prof O’Neil said that meant mental health checks could be an important way to identify heart attack risk in women.
“Earlier this year Medicare started funding GP heart health checks for those over 45, or 35 for indigenous Australians, so one thing I’m keen to investigate is convenient ways to include depression screening in those routine risk assessments,” she said.
“These screenings are also a good opportunity for women who have other femalespecific risk factors, such as polycystic ovary syndrome and pregnancy.”
Another of Prof O’Neil’s initial projects will look at the effect intermittent fasting can have on heart failure and mood. “Experiments in mice models have shown it can have a positive effect, and that’s very exciting because heart failure is something that can’t necessarily be cured,” she said.
As part of her trial, she will recruit Geelong residents who have experienced heart failure and then monitor their diet, more than halving calories every second day for three months.
“We’ll then look at effects on mood, weight, quality of life and heart function,” she said.
Prof O’Neil’s role will also see her stepping in as the new deputy director of the Food Mood Centre, also based at IMPACT, supporting founding director Professor Felice Jacka to grow the pioneering nutritional psychiatry research centre.
The position, supported by the Wilson Foundation, will see Prof O’Neil applying her experience from the world of heart health to further expand the impact of the Food Mood Centre.
“I’ll be applying everything I’ve learnt from 15 years of conducting lifestyle-based interventions in chronic disease, such as cardiac rehabilitation after a heart attack, to psychiatry where lifestyle approaches are still fairly novel,” she said.
“So that will be looking at ways we can improve the effective delivery of interventions that support medication, things like diet, behaviour, physical activity, sleep and stress management.”