The greater your anxiety level, the higher your risk of having a
stroke, according to new research published in the American Heart
Association journal Stroke.
The study is the first in which researchers
linked anxiety and stroke independent of other factors such as
depression. Anxiety disorders are one of the most prevalent mental
health problems. Symptoms include feeling unusually worried, stressed,
nervous or tense.
Over a 22 year period, researchers studied a nationally
representative group of 6,019 people 25-74 years old in the first
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I).
Participants underwent an interview and took blood tests, medical
examinations and completed psychological questionnaires to gauge anxiety
and depression levels.
Researchers tracked strokes through hospital or nursing home reports
and death certificates. After accounting for other factors, they found
that even modest increases in anxiety were associated with greater
stroke risk.
People in the highest third of anxiety symptoms had a 33 percent higher stroke risk than those with the lowest levels.
"Everyone has some anxiety now and then. But when it's elevated
and/or chronic, it may have an effect on your vasculature years down the
road," said Maya Lambiase, Ph.D., study author and cardiovascular
behavioral medicine researcher in the Department of Psychiatry at the
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, in Pittsburgh, Penn.
People with high anxiety levels are more likely to smoke and be
physically inactive, possibly explaining part of the anxiety-stroke
link. Higher stress hormone levels, heart rate or blood pressure could
also be factors, Lambiase said.
In earlier work, researchers found that depression was linked to greater risk of stroke. In contrast to anxiety,
depression is a persistent feeling of hopelessness, dejection, and lack
of energy, among other symptoms. Stroke is the No. 4 killer and a
leading cause of disability in the United States.
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