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Anger, anxiety may boost heart riskin postmenopausal women
EurekAlert, July 7, 2003
Psychological factors
like anger and anxiety are associated with impaired artery function in
healthy postmenopausal women, which could put them at greater risk for
heart disease, a new study suggests. Hormone replacement
therapy provides some artery protection for women with high levels of
anger and Type A behavior (exhibiting competitive, impatient and
aggressive feelings), but not for women with anxiety or depression,
according to Kelly F. Harris, M.S., and Karen A. Matthews, Ph.D. of the
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and colleagues. The study, appearing
in the current issue of Psychosomatic Medicine, is the first to link these
psychological traits to impaired artery function in healthy women. Psychological traits
could affect blood vessel function through several pathways, the
researchers say. Previous studies have linked anger, hostility and
depression to unhealthy behaviors like eating a high-fat diet, smoking,
lack of exercise and alcohol abuse. Stress can also affect the part of the
body's nervous system that controls blood vessel function. The 193 women in the
study received psychological evaluations before and after menopause and an
examination of a major arm artery post-menopause. Harris and colleagues
used ultrasound imaging to watch how well the artery dilated in response
to a stimulus. Inability of the blood vessels to dilate can be an early
sign of narrowed and hardened arteries, or atherosclerosis. Women who had high
levels of anger and Type A behavior and or high levels of anxiety and
depression also had the lowest amount of artery dilation, say the
researchers. The association was
the same whether the traits were measured pre- or postmenopausal, although
the women who took hormone replacement therapy post-menopause were
protected somewhat from the effects of anger and aggression. "Trait anxiety
may be a more 'toxic' characteristic in relation to [artery] function than
the other psychosocial traits and could therefore be more resistant to
protective factors, such as hormone replacement therapy," Harris
suggests. In premenopausal women, estrogen and other circulating hormones help blood vessels maintain their function, which may explain why replacement therapy provides some artery protection in healthy postmenopausal women, the researchers say. Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging
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