Stress Raises Heart Disease Risks

In that previous studies have found psychosocial factors including personality traits associate with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality, A Borglykke, from Copenhagen University Hospital (Denmark), and colleagues studied whether mental vulnerability – marked by physical and psychological symptoms such as frequent loss of appetite, sleeplessness, tiredness, as well as hands that shake easily, being easily bothered by things, feeling misunderstood, and troubling thoughts – is an independent risk factor. The team pooled together data from three Danish population-based prospective cohort studies (Monica I and III and Inter99) for a total of 10,943 cardiovascular disease-free individuals at baseline. About one in 10 scored as at least latently vulnerable, with three or more “yes” answers; 9% were considered vulnerable with five or more of the items reported. The intermediate group was 17% more likely to have incident fatal or nonfatal cardiovascular disease during the mean 15.2 years of follow-up (hazard ratio 1.17, 95% confidence interval 1.06 to 1.29).  That risk was elevated 29% with a higher mental vulnerability score (95% CI 1.14 to 1.45).   People who scored high for “mental vulnerability” were 37% more likely to develop fatal or nonfatal cardiovascular disease during a mean 15 years of follow-up after adjustment for top risk factors.