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Life-threatening cardiovascular consequences of anger in patients with coronary heart disease
1Institute for Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, Deaconess Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Insights
Anger can trigger heart attacks and dangerous arrhythmias, affecting over 36,000 Americans annually. New research explores the physiological links between anger and cardiovascular events to prevent these life-threatening outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Physiology
- Behavioral Medicine
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Anger is a common trigger for myocardial ischemia and life-threatening arrhythmias.
- Annually, anger precipitates at least 36,000 heart attacks in the United States.
- The physiological response to anger involves the sympathetic nervous system, leading to tachycardia, hypertension, and cardiac electrical instability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the pathophysiology linking anger to cardiovascular events.
- To explore novel tools for understanding and mitigating the cardiovascular risks of anger.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing emerging tools from epidemiology, behavioral medicine, and cardiovascular physiology.
- Analyzing the physiological mechanisms activated by anger.
Main Results:
- Anger activates high-gain central neurocircuitry and the sympathetic nervous system.
- This activation results in acute sinus tachycardia, hypertension, impaired myocardial perfusion, and cardiac electrical instability.
Conclusions:
- Understanding the pathophysiology of anger is crucial for addressing its cardiovascular consequences.
- New interdisciplinary tools offer promise in severing the link between anger and life-threatening cardiac events.
Abstract:
Anger is the affective state most commonly associated with myocardial ischemia and life-threatening arrhythmias. The scope of the problem is sizeable-at least 36,000 (2.4% of 1.5 million) heart attacks are precipitated annually in the United States by anger. The lethal cardiovascular consequences in ischemic heart disease are attributable to the unique physiology of this state, which activates high-gain central neurocircuitry and the sympathetic nervous system, leading to acute sinus tachycardia, hypertension, impaired myocardial perfusion, and a high degree of cardiac electrical instability. Exciting new tools have emerged from the fields of epidemiology, behavioral medicine, and cardiovascular physiology that offer considerable promise in accelerating our understanding of the pathophysiology of anger and in developing means to sever the link between anger and its life-threatening consequences.