In a large international study, a team of researchers from the University of Gothenburg found that people who have more stress, money problems, and bad life events are at increased risk of heart disease, leading to early death. They also found a link between both risks of heart attack and stroke with high-stress levels.

The research included 118,706 people from 21 countries, with five of them being low-income, twelve being middle-income, and four being high-income. Age ranged from 35 to 70 years old, with an average age of 50.

In the beginning, they were asked about how stressful they thought the past year had been. Stress was characterized as experiencing nervousness, irritability, or anxiety as a result of issues at work or at home, financial troubles, or having encountered unpleasant events and situations in their lives.

Divorce, unemployment, a loved one’s death, or a life-threatening illness are all examples of life’s ups and downs. The level of tension was quantified using a scale ranging from zero (no stress) to three (severe stress).

7.3 percent of participants reported experiencing severe stress, 18.4 percent reported experiencing moderate stress, 29.4 percent reported experiencing low stress, and 44 percent reported experiencing no stress.

Severe stressors were slightly younger, more frequently had risk characteristics such as smoking or abdominal obesity, and lived in higher-income nations.

The people were followed until March 2021, implying a ten-year median follow-up duration. During this time period, 5,934 cardiovascular events were recorded, including myocardial infarction, stroke, and heart failure.

After adjusting for variations in risk factors between those with high and low stress, it was discovered that those with high stress had a 22 percent increased risk of some type of cardiovascular event, a 24 percent increased risk of heart attack, and a 30 percent increased risk of stroke.

The findings are consistent with past studies in the field, with the exception that stress levels were categorised before cardiovascular events in this study. Previous research looked at stress levels in persons who had already had a heart attack or stroke, as this could have influenced their answers.

Professor of Medicine Annika Rosengren led the study alongside Ailiana Santosa, first author, using data from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiological (PURE) population survey. Both are employed by Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg’s Institute of Medicine.

The current study is unable to answer concerns such as whether stress has a more acute or chronic effect, or whether its impact varies depending on the country’s economic status. One virtue of the study, according to the researchers, is that it surveys components of stress that may be significant even in nations where the term “stress” is less common than in Western high-income countries.

“It’s not known exactly what causes the elevated risk of cardiovascular disease among the severely stressed people. But many different processes in the body, such as atherosclerosis and blood clotting, may be affected by stress,” says Rosengren.

“If we want to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease globally, we need to consider stress as another modifiable risk factor,” she continues.

Source: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.38920

Image Credit: Getty

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