(Defeat Diabetes® News) -- Numerous psychological and emotional conditions are likely contributors to Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) and heart attack. A recent study has focused specifically on the role Anxiety plays in increasing risk of CAD, and the results are overwhelming.
 
Anxiety, along with depression, is one of the most common psychological conditions diagnosed today. Depression has been studied in its connection to CAD, and confirmed to be strongly connected. Anxiety on the other hand has been insufficiently studied in the past, with its role in increasing risk of CAD mostly speculative.
 
The recent study, led by Dr. Biing Jiun Shen of the University of Southern California, has succeeded in concretely showing the connection between Anxiety and CAD. 735 men (mean age 60 years) in good health (no CAD or Diabetes) took a psychological survey in 1986, and were monitored for an average of 12.4 years before a follow-up survey.
 
The survey showed that men who scored in the top 15% in the 1986 survey for Anxiety were approximately 34% more likely to develop CAD. These results remained consistent even when accounting for other medical or psychological conditions developed before follow-up.
 
More specifically, the study states that, "This relationship was independent of age, education, marital status, body mass index, cholesterol, fasting glucose, blood pressure, caloric intake, smoking, alcohol consumption, and other psychological factors, including depression, type A [ambitious, aggressive and often hostile] behavior, hostility, and anger"
 
Anxiety is a treatable condition, often relieved by a change in lifestyle, and through treatment if necessary. "The results underscore the importance of identifying older adults with high levels of anxiety as a group with higher risk of MI [myocardial infarction (heart attack)]" Shen and colleagues concluded.
 
The study acknowledges that a healthy diet and exercise are the most important things to monitor when attempting to prevent CAD, but knowing the contributions of treatable conditions such as Anxiety are extremely important as well. This study, and previous studies on depression, show the importance of taking care of the mind in order to take care of the body.