Thursday, August 13, 2020

Stress and anger may exacerbate heart failure


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-08/yu-saa081220.php

 

 

News Release 12-Aug-2020
Yale University

 

 

Mental stress and anger may have clinical implications for patients with heart failure according to a new report published in the Journal of Cardiac Failure.

Heart failure is a life-threatening cardiovascular disease in which the heart is damaged or weakened. This can lead to a reduced ejection fraction, in which the heart muscle pumps out a lower amount of blood than is typical with each contraction.

In this study of patients who had heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, the authors -- including researchers at Yale -- evaluated the effects of stress and anger on diastolic function. Diastolic function describes the ability of the heart to relax and refill between muscle contractions and is predictive of mortality risk.


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Patients who reported experiencing anger in the week prior to the laboratory mental stress protocol exhibited worse baseline resting diastolic pressure, the researchers said. Furthermore, most patients demonstrated stress-provoked changes in diastolic function, including decreased early relaxation and increased diastolic pressure.

"Mental stress is common in patients with heart failure due in part to the complexities of disease self-management, progressively worsening functional limitations, and frequent symptom exacerbations and hospitalizations," said the lead author Kristie Harris, a postdoctoral associate in cardiovascular medicine at Yale.

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