Studies tie stress from storms, war to heart risks

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/2013/03/10/studies-tie-stress-from-storms-war-heart-risks/Q2GLaL9W6uUeP4CXy9VQeJ/story.html

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE
AP Chief Medical Writer / March 10, 2013

Stress does bad things to the heart. New studies have found higher rates of cardiac problems in veterans with PTSD, New Orleans residents six years after Hurricane Katrina and Greeks struggling through that country’s financial turmoil.

Disasters and prolonged stress can raise ‘‘fight or flight’’ hormones that affect blood pressure, blood sugar and other things in ways that make heart trouble more likely, doctors say. They also provoke anger and helplessness and spur heart-harming behaviors like eating or drinking too much.

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They were free of major heart disease and diabetes when researchers checked their Veterans Administration medical records from 2009 and 2010.

Checked again about two years later, 35 percent of those with PTSD but only 19 percent of those without it had developed insulin resistance, which can lead to diabetes and hardening of the arteries.

Doctors also saw higher rates of metabolic syndrome — a collection of heart disease risk factors that include high body fat, cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar levels. About 53 percent of veterans with PTSD but only 37 percent of those without it had several of these symptoms.

The numbers are estimates and are not as important as the trend — more heart risk with more stress, said one study leader, Dr. Ramin Ebrahimi, a cardiologist at the Greater Los Angeles VA Medical Center and a professor at UCLA.

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Tulane Medical Center doctors led a study of their hospital’s patients that suggests heart attack incidence is three times higher in New Orleans than it was in the two years before the 2005 storm.

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A third study found that heart attacks rose sharply in the Messinia area of southwestern Greece since January 2008, the start of that country’s financial crisis.

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Heart attack incidence rose 40 percent among women, who have higher unemployment rates than men and tend to be more responsible for child care — a double burden of stress, said the lead researcher, Dr. Emmanouil Makaris.



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