Heart Vulnerable to State of Mind

By Crystal Phend, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today
Published: April 19, 2013
Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Dorothy Caputo, MA, BSN, RN, Nurse Planner


ROME -- Easily distressed individuals may be at higher risk of heart disease, a Danish population-based study showed.

People who scored high for "mental vulnerability" were 37% more likely to develop fatal or nonfatal cardiovascular disease during a mean 15 years of follow-up after adjustment for top risk factors, Anders Borglykke, MSc, PhD, of the Research Center for Prevention and Health at Denmark's Glostrup University Hospital, and colleagues found.

Intermediate scores on the scale also significantly raised the risk by 23%, the group reported here at the European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation's EuroPRevent meeting.

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