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Emotional Stress in Cardiac and Vascular Diseases

Theodora A Manolis1, Antonis A Manolis2, Antonis S Manolis3

  • 1Department of Psychiatry, Aiginiteio University Hospital, Athens, Greece.

Current Vascular Pharmacology
|January 4, 2025
PubMed

Insights

Emotional stress significantly impacts cardiovascular disease (CVD) patients, acting as a risk and prognosticator. This stress affects health outcomes and increases healthcare use, involving key biological systems.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Psychiatry
  • Psychosomatic Medicine

Background:

  • Emotional, mental, or psychological distress is prevalent in patients with chronic diseases, particularly cardiovascular disease (CVD).
  • This distress manifests as increased symptoms of depression, anxiety, and perceived stress.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the impact of emotional stress on the occurrence and outcomes of various cardiovascular diseases.
  • To detail the pathophysiology and clinical spectrum of these influences.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of studies and meta-analyses.
  • Examination of data on emotional stress and cardiovascular disease (CVD) occurrence and outcomes.
  • Detailed tabulation and illustration of influences' pathophysiology and clinical spectrum.

Main Results:

  • Emotional stress is a newly recognized risk and prognosticator for CVDs, including coronary artery disease, heart failure, hypertension, arrhythmias, and stroke.
  • This stress independently impacts cardiovascular outcomes and increases healthcare utilization.
  • Biological systems activated include the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), renin-angiotensin system (RAS), and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, disrupting processes like endothelial function and inflammatory responses.

Conclusions:

  • Emotional stress is common in CVD patients and recognized as a significant risk and prognostic factor.
  • It influences cardiovascular outcomes and healthcare utilization.
  • Key biological systems (SNS, RAS, HPA axis) are activated, leading to disrupted physiological processes.
Abstract

Keywords:
Emotional stressacute coronary syndromeanxietycardiac arrhythmiascardiovascular diseasecoronary artery diseasedepressionendothelial dysfunction.heart failurehypertensionhypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axisinflammationrenin-angiotensin systemstrokesudden cardiac deathsympathetic nervous system

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