Anger Linked to Heart Disease

[Guest guest]

Comments?

Misty L. Trepke

http://www..com

 

Anger Linked To Heart Disease

 

Sept. 22, 2004 (WebMD) A bad attitude may put your heart at risk,

regardless of how well you've got the other traditional heart

disease risk factors under control, according to a new study.

 

Researchers found otherwise healthy people prone to anger,

hostility, and depression have higher levels of a substance linked

to narrowing of the arteries and future heart disease risk called C-

reactive protein (CRP). This protein is released in the body in

response to the inflammation caused by stress, infection, and other

threats to the immune system.

 

Depression and anger have long been linked to a higher risk of heart

disease, but experts say this is one of the first studies to provide

proof of a possible mechanism behind the relationship.

 

Researchers say the findings show that these behavioral and

psychological factors might help account for the 50% of heart

attacks that occur among people without any of the traditional risk

factors for heart disease.

 

" These psychological behaviors do have implications in determining

health or the risk of disease that we have, " says researcher Edward

Suarez, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral

sciences at Duke University Medical Center.

 

" This is the first study to show there is an independent association

between depression and C-reactive protein, " Suarez tells WebMD,

" regardless of their weight, blood pressure, [cholesterol] levels,

alcohol use, and exercise status. "

 

C-Reactive Protein Tied to Depression In the study, published in the

September issue of Psychosomatic Medicine, 127 healthy men and women

completed personality questionnaires that assessed anger, hostility,

and depressive symptoms. Blood tests were then performed to measure

CRP levels.

 

None of the participants had any history of heart disease or other

risk factors associated with heart disease and high CRP levels, such

as smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity.

 

The study showed that healthy adults who had mild to moderate

symptoms of depression, anger, or hostility had levels of CRP, a

marker of inflammation in the blood, that were two to three times

higher than those of their calmer counterparts. And the more

negative their moods, the higher their CRP levels were.

 

Suarez says that it's the clustering of anger, hostility, and

depression that commonly occurs in the same individual that may

produce the greatest risk. For example, people with these

attributes may evaluate their surroundings in a cynically hostile

way and then react with anger to events, which is then commonly

accompanied by mild to moderate symptoms of depression.

 

Suarez explains that it may be that people prone to anger go through

life and consistently react negatively to life events. In response,

their bodies release stress hormones that eventually lead to an

elevation in CRP.

 

These CRP elevations do not fluctuate as easily as hormones and are

instead maintained for long periods of time, which may subsequently

increase the risk of narrowing of the arteries and heart disease.

 

Understanding Depression and Heart Disease Researchers say the

findings may be the first step in understanding the complex

relationship between psychological factors such as depression and

heart disease.

 

" It's noteworthy that people are at last looking for mechanisms to

explain the pretty well-established link between depression and

heart disease, " says Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller, PhD, professor of

epidemiology and population health at Albert Einstein College of

Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York.

 

But she says it's still unclear, which direction the relationship

flows, whether depression increases inflammation or if inflammation

is a part of a syndrome that includes depression and other

underlying processes.

 

" Nevertheless it's a biochemical link between depression and heart

disease because we know that CRP identifies people at future risk of

heart disease, " Wassertheil-Smoller tells WebMD. " It is a very

interesting link that needs to be pursued. "

 

Lawson Wulsin, MD, associate professor of psychiatry and family

medicine at the University of Cincinnati says this study adds to a

growing body of research on the interplay between the entire

inflammatory process, depression, and heart disease.

 

" Both depression and C-reactive protein are in the running as

candidates for the next major risk factor for coronary heart

disease, says Wulsin. " To show that they are linked at least in time

is a step toward the process of showing that they may be linked by

cause and effect or that they may be operating on the same pathway

that later increases the risk for heart disease. "

 

Researchers say the next step will be to conduct long-term studies

to see if the elevated CRP levels associated with depression, anger,

and hostility are associated with higher rates of heart disease over

time.

 

Once the relationship between inflammation and psychological factors

is clearly established, researchers say they can begin looking at

new targets for heart disease prevention and treatment by either by

targeting the psychological symptoms or the inflammation itself.

 

SOURCES: Suarez, E. Psychosomatic Medicine, September 2004; vol

66. , associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral

sciences, Duke University Medical Center. Sylvia Wassertheil-

Smoller, PhD professor of epidemiology and population health, Albert

Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, New York.

Lawson Wulsin, MD, associate professor of psychiatry and family

medicine, University of Cincinnati.

 

 

By Jennifer Warner WebMD Medical News Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario,

MD © 2004, WebMD Inc. All rights reserved.