High cholesterol and obesity can increase the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, but new research poses another, more surprising risk factor: Depression.

According to a study recently published in the journal Atherosclerosis, depression could be just as hard on the heart as other common risk factors such as higher cholesterol and obesity.

The study was conducted by researchers from the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the German Center for Cardiovascular Diseases (DZHK). Together, they examined the relationship between depression and other risk factors such as smoking tobacco, high cholesterol, obesity and hypertension.

They examined data from more than 3,000 male patients between the ages of 45 and 74 years old and followed their health for 10 years.

"Our investigation shows that the risk of a fatal cardiovascular disease due to depression is almost as great as that due to elevated cholesterol levels or obesity," said Karl-Heinz Ladwig, the lead author on the study and a professor of psychosomatic medicine at TUM, in a statement.

The only factors associated with a greater risk of developing cardiovascular diseases were high blood pressure and smoking. Results showed that about 15 percent of cardiovascular deaths were caused by depression.

"Our data show that depression has a medium effect size within the range of major, non-congenital risk factors for cardiovascular diseases,” Ladwig said. "In high risk patients, the diagnostic investigation of co-morbid depression should be standard. This could be registered with simple means."