Stress Puts Heart To The Test
posted 08/16/02
High stress can mean an early death from heart disease, researchers report.
A study of Japanese women found those who reported high levels of mental stress
faced twice the risk of stroke- and heart-related death than those who
experienced low levels. The study is reported in Circulation: Journal of the
American Heart Association. "This is the first report that sets out to examine
perceived mental stress in 73,424 men and women with a sufficient number of
deaths from stroke or coronary heart disease," said study leader Dr. Hiroyaso
Iso, professor at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. There were 778
cardiovascular deaths among the men and 643 among the women in the study. Of the
participants, 8,656 women and 6,891 men reported high mental stress. Taking into
account cardiovascular and other risk factors, the researchers found that women
in the high-stress group had 2.24 times greater risk for stroke and 2.28 times
greater risk for coronary heart disease. They also had 1.64 times the risk of
any cardiovascular death, the scientists found. The stressed-out women were
about five years younger, more educated, more sedentary, thinner and more likely
to have a history of hypertension or diabetes than were their low-stress
counterparts. The high-stress women also were more likely to be angry and in a
hurry and to feel hopeless and unfulfilled. Men reporting medium or high mental
stress had a 1.74 times greater risk of heart attack. "Ideally, clinical trials
would be the best way to test whether interventions to reduce mental stress make
a difference in cardiovascular disease," Iso said.
Source: United Press International.