Anxiety has become a synonymous term with many diseases including heart attack. A recent study by US researcher dealt with the fact that worried and anxious people are at high risk of heart attack specially men.
Biing-Jiun Shen of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles studied that even if we consider other factor responsible for heart attack anxiety remain the most potent out of all to cause a heart attack.
He stated, “What we're seeing is over and beyond what can be explained by blood pressure, obesity, cholesterol, age, cigarette smoking, blood sugar levels and other cardiovascular risk factors.”
The study also suggested that the role of anxiety in escalating heart attack is far ahead of depressions, anger, hostility and Type-A Behaviour Pattern which includes being impatient and insecure, aggressive and hostile.
“These psychological factors are important in predicting the risk of heart disease, but anxiety is unique. Older men with sustained and pervasive anxiety appear to be at increased risk for a heart attack even after their levels of depression, anger, hostility and Type A behaviour are considered,” Shen said.
Shen collected data from the multidisciplinary Normative Aging Study and followed 735 men since 1986. At the beginning of the study their hearts were healthy but by 2004, 75 of the participants reported heart attacks.
He found that those who had chronic anxiety had 30 -40 percent increased risk of heart attack. The research was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology on Monday.
While another study published in the American Journal of Physiology: Heart and Circulatory Physiology said that a brief period of stress can prepare a heart for a massive attack.
"These mini stress tests appear to push the heart muscle into an adaptive state where it gets used to how long-stress feels," Dr. Karyn Butler of University Hospital in Cincinnati said in a statement. "This preconditioning helps the heart muscle better tolerate longer episodes of compromised blood flow."
She has cautioned it for it has not been studied on human being. But if it can be reproduced on human being then it will be a milestone in medical history.
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