People with obsessional personalities more likely to experience heart attacksMarch 13, 2001People prone to highly obsessional thoughts and physical symptoms of anxiety are susceptible to heart attacks, finds research in Heart. A 20 year study of over 1400 men showed that those who had highly obsessional thought patterns and physical (somatic) symptoms of anxiety were significantly more likely to die of a heart attack. The men were recruited from three occupational groups in North West London between 1972 and 1978, when aged between 40 and 64. They had no history of heart disease when they began the study, but were asked to complete an extensively used inventory of psychological health. This grades different aspects of mental health on a point scale, providing an overall measure of psychological problems. During the period of study, 127 men died of a heart attack. After adjusting for known risk factors, including smoking, age, and social class, the men who died had significantly higher scores for somatic symptoms of anxiety, such as palpitations, sweating, sleep disturbances, and indigestion, and obsessional thoughts than the survivors. Every one point increase in the scores for obsessionality and somatic symptoms increased the relative risk of a fatal heart attack by 8 per cent. Phobias were associated with a 7 per cent increased risk of a fatal heart attack for every one point scored, but only for those men dying in the first 10 years of the study. Overall scores were also significantly higher in the men who died: a 10 point increase was associated with a 28 per cent higher risk of death. The authors conclude that some psychological factors are likely to increase the risk of a fatal heart attack. Exactly how is not known, but emotions and thoughts can affect heart rate and/or cause constriction of the arteries. British Medical Journal (BMJ) |
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