Experts say 'post-pandemic stress disorder' could lead to rise in heart disease

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One of Australia's leading cardiology researchers says the complex effects of coronavirus lockdowns will likely lead to more deaths from cardiovascular disease.

But Professor David Hare has urged caution in the face of an alarmist prediction from the UK, which suggested up to 300,000 people in that country could develop heart disease as a result of "post-pandemic stress disorder".

Hare, the world's only cardiologist who has also trained in psychiatry, has researched the link between depression and cardiac disease – Australia's leading cause of death – for more than four decades.

He said Covid-19 had broadly created heightened risk in three areas – systemic pressure on the healthcare system causing backlogs, patients delaying testing or treatment due to fear of catching the virus, and the wide-ranging "psychosocial" effects of the pandemic and lockdowns themselves.

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