|
Study Spells Trouble for
Grouchy Young Men
Excerpt by
Serena Gordon, HealthScoutNews
Men,
more than women, may need to learn to relax if they want to avoid
heart disease.
That's the conclusion of a study
that found men who come from families with a history of early
cardiac problems were diagnosed themselves with heart disease
12 years earlier than men without a family history of the disease.
The researchers also found that men with a family history scored
significantly higher on a stress symptoms checklist.
"It turned out that crankiness,
particularly as rated by a spouse, was a strong predictor of early
family history and of heart disease themselves in males,"
says study author Mark Ketterer, a clinical psychologist at Henry
Ford Hospital in Detroit.
Ketterer is presenting the results
of his findings March 6 at the annual meeting of the American
Psychosomatic Society in Phoenix.
The researchers asked 100 men and
women between the ages of 29 and 73 who had already been diagnosed
with heart disease about the health of their family members and
their own medical history. They were also examined and had their
blood pressure, cholesterol and weight checked.
Then the study volunteers completed
a 58-item questionnaire, dubbed the Ketterer Stress Symptom Frequency
Checklist, designed to measure aggravation, irritation, impatience,
anger, depression and anxiety. Spouses of 38 of the male volunteers
were also asked to complete the checklist, because Ketterer says
men often deny these symptoms.
The researchers found that women
with a history of early heart disease in their families were diagnosed
with their own heart disease two years earlier than people without
the early family history, compared to 12 years for men in similar
situations. Early heart disease occurs before 56 years of age.
Ketterer says the findings for women were not statistically significant.
None of the standard risk factors
for heart disease, such as high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol,
smoking or obesity were significantly different between the groups.
What did stand out, according to Ketterer, were the stress scores
for men.
"This study provides evidence
that the propensity to a cranky personality is heritable,"
says Ketterer. "About 40 percent of the degree of your crankiness
is in your genes, and early heart disease might be accounted for
by that factor."
"Controlling stress is every
bit as important as controlling cholesterol or hypertension, and
may even be somewhat more important [for men with a family history
of early heart disease], according to our results," Ketterer
says.
Another important finding, he says,
is that people don't tend to perceive themselves as stressed,
angry or cranky, even though others see them that way. So Ketterer
suggests that doctors ask patients' spouses about their personalities
to get a better assessment of their stress level.
Controlling stress may be one way
to help prevent heart disease, which is why it's part of many
cardiac rehabilitation programs, says Dr. Stephen Siegel, a cardiologist
at New York University Medical Center. However, he says to assume
that the reason people in certain families share a predisposition
to early heart disease is solely because of stress is "a
little bit presumptuous." He adds there are many complex
factors that lead to heart disease, and points out this study
was very small in size.
Siegel also says researchers haven't
pinpointed whether it's stress that may increase the risk of heart
disease, or the behavioral changes that occur because someone
is stressed.
"People who are stressed tend
to smoke more and eat more," which, Siegel says, could increase
heart disease risk.
While scientists continue to debate
the role of stress in heart disease, Siegel says it's a good idea
to reduce your stress levels and to control all of the other risk
factors for heart disease -- don't smoke, maintain a healthy weight
and exercise regularly.
More information
Learn about stress and heart disease
from the
American Heart Association. This article from the
Texas Heart Institute looks at stress and other heart disease
risks.
Reference
Source 101
For more information on how to prevent other diseases, use
PreventDisease.com's "Quick
Prevention Resources".
|
