A new study indicates that depressed people may not realize the health risks they currently face.

The study has found that people with depression who don’t exercise are at a greater risk of developing heart disease, and exercising may reduce those changes significantly, according to a HealthDay News report.

The study found that those who suffered from depression who were active physically tended to have more inflamed aortas, which is the artery that carries blood from the heart. This condition is less common in depressed people who do exercise.

Studies have long linked heart disease to depression and other ailments, but this study more narrowly focuses in on the subject of exercise and its effects.

Dr. Gregg Fonarow, who is a professor of cardiology at the University of California Los Angeles, said according to the report that “Depression and physical inactivity have been shown to be associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events,” adding: “Although associations were found between depression and artery function, which was improved in people who exercise regularly, additional studies are needed before we can conclude that exercise reduces heart disease risk in those with depression.”

People who are depressed make up 20 percent of heart attack victims, and patients who have heart disease have three times the risk of getting depression — statistics that show how linnked the two ailments are.

Arshed A. Quyyumi, M.D., co-director of the Emory Clinical Cardiovascular Research Institute in Atlanta, the author of the study, said in a statement that the findings “highlight the link between worsening depression and cardiovascular risk and support routinely assessing depression in patients to determine heart disease risk.

“This research also demonstrates the positive effects of exercise for all patients, including those with depressive symptoms,” he continued. “There are many patients with heart disease who also experience depression – we need to study whether encouraging them to exercise will reduce their risk of adverse outcomes.”

The findings were published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.