Experts are calling for the first time for early monitoring of cardiovascular disease in adolescents with depression or bipolar disorder, according to an American Heart Association scientific statement. An article titled “Major Depression and Bipolar Disorder Accelerate Early Development of Atherosclerosis and Cardiovascular Disease in Young Adults” was published in the American Heart Association’s Circulation journal. The statement makes the recommendation that these mood disorders are independent, moderate risk factors for cardiovascular disease, based on recent scientific studies that include those reporting cardiovascular events such as heart attacks and deaths among young people. For example, a 2011 population study of 7,000 young adults under the age of 30 in the United States found that a history of depression or a history of suicide attempts was the number one risk factor for cardiac death due to cardiac artery constriction/blockage in young women and the number four risk factor for young men. After systematically analyzing the study, the authors found that adolescents with major depression or bipolar disorder were more likely to have risk factors for cardiovascular disease such as hypertension, high cholesterol, obesity (especially abdominal obesity), type 2 diabetes, and atherosclerosis than other adolescents, and that the biological reasons for these increased risks are not known, but they may be related to inflammation and other types of cellular damage. Also, adolescents with mood disorders are more likely to have more unhealthy behaviors, such as substance abuse, smoking, and physical inactivity, than other adolescents, and these factors alone cannot explain the increased cardiovascular risk. Similarly, medications do not fully explain the increased risk. Although certain medications for mood disorders can lead to weight gain, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high blood sugar, most of the adolescents in the study were not taking medications. Based on these findings, the authors suggest that major depression and bipolar disorder be considered as a moderate risk factor for developing cardiovascular disease among adolescents.