Angry Young Men Put Hearts at Risk Irritability, Griping, and Anger Hasten Heart Disease
By Jennifer Warner WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Gary Vogin, MD April 22, 2002 -- A hot temper may come back to haunt you -- and sooner than you might think. A new study shows young men who react quickly to stress with anger are three times more likely to develop premature heart disease. Although previous studies have pointed to a link between anger and heart disease later in life, researchers say it's the first time anger has been shown to affect the risk of heart problems before age 55. In fact, men who said they expressed or concealed their anger, became irritable, or engaged in gripe sessions were five times more likely to have an early heart attack than their calmer counterparts. "In this study, hot tempers predicted disease long before traditional risk factors like diabetes and hypertension became apparent," says study author Patricia P. Chang, MD, a cardiology fellow at Johns Hopkins University, in a news release. Her study appears in today's issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. Researchers based their findings on information provided by the Johns Hopkins Precursors Study, which follows 1,337 medical students who were enrolled at Johns Hopkins between 1948 and 1964. During medical school and again in 1992, the participants were given a "nervous tension" questionnaire that provided clues about how the men responded to pressure or stress. Chang says that although the number of heart attacks among the men studied was small, the likelihood of heart disease was significantly higher among those who had the highest level of anger compared with those with lower anger levels. Researchers say it's unclear exactly how anger contributes to heart disease. Chang says some biological responses to stress, such as the release of adrenaline, constrict the blood vessels and force the heart to work harder. Eventually, this additional stress may damage the heart and increase the risk of heart attack. "The most important thing angry young men can do is get professional help to manage their tempers, especially since previous studies have shown that those who already have heart disease get better with anger management," says Chang in the release. � 2002 WebMD Inc. All rights reserved. We participated in a similar survey years ago, only we were assigned a "hostility score." Two people got ~ 30, which was very high (although I don't remember the maximum possible); I was middling at 15 (there were several with only ~5 - and they really were even-tempered). Bet It's Higher Now Maru :P __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! News - Today's headlines http://news.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
