A pattern of brain activity may link stress to heart attacks

Conclusion This intriguing study sets out a possible pathway by which the effects of stress on the brain could translate into inflammation in the blood vessels, and so raise the risks of cardiovascular disease. This would help to explain why people living in stressful situations, or with illnesses such as depression and anxiety, are more at risk of heart attacks and strokes. However, there are important limitations to the study which mean we should treat the findings with caution. The main study of 293 people was relatively small for a long-term study looking at cardiovascular disease, and only 22 people had a cardiovascular event. That means there's more likelihood of the results being down to chance. The study mainly used patients being tested for cancer (either because they'd had it in the past, or were suspected of having it). That could mean their stress levels, amygdala activity and so on are not typical of people in the wider population. They were almost all white, so results may not apply to other ethnic groups. Also, people in this group didn't have their stress levels tested, so we don't know whether raised amygdala activity in this group was a result of stress. That means we don't know whether people who had heart attacks or other cardiovascular events were more stressed – only that their amygdalae showed more activity on one occasion. The cross-sectional study, which linked stress to amygdala activity, was very small. It only included people with a history of P...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Mental health Source Type: news