The links between stress and cardiovascular disease
New research from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, both in the US, published in The Lancet has linked chronic psychological stress with a heightened risk of developing heart disease and stroke.
The research provides new insights into the possible mechanism by which stress can lead to cardiovascular disease in humans.
The team imaged the amygdala – a region of the brain involved in stress – to determine whether its resting metabolic activity predicts risk of subsequent cardiovascular events. The researchers found that heightened activity in the amygdala is associated with a greater risk of heart disease and stroke.
In the study, 293 patients were given a combined PET/CT scan to record their brain, bone marrow and spleen activity and inflammation of their arteries. They were then tracked for an average of 3.7 years to see if they developed cardiovascular disease. During this time, 22 patients had cardiovascular events including heart attack, angina, heart failure, stroke and peripheral arterial disease.
It was found that those with higher amygdala activity had a greater risk of cardiovascular disease and developed problems sooner than those with lower activity.
The team also found that the heightened activity in the amygdala was linked to increased bone marrow activity and inflammation in the arteries. The researchers believe this may cause the increased cardiovascular risk.
"Our results provide a unique insight into how stress may lead to cardiovascular disease. This raises the possibility that reducing stress could produce benefits that extend beyond an improved sense of psychological wellbeing," said lead author Dr Ahmed Tawakol, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, USA. "Eventually, chronic stress could be treated as an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which is routinely screened for and effectively managed like other major cardiovascular disease risk factors."