Researchers have found a direct link between brain activity and cardiovascular disease caused by stress, it was announced today.
The findings link activity in the amygdala to the development of disease.
The mechanism by which stress causes problems such as hypertension and diabetes has been controversial – and it has been thought it might be the result of people with stress adopting unhealthy lifestyles.
The US-based study involved some 293 patients who underwent PET/CT scans for activity of the brain, the bone marrow and spleen together with inflammation of the arteries.
In the following years 22 patients suffered cardiovascular events. The researchers say those with high amygdala activity – indicating stress – had an increased risk of disease.
The study, reported in The Lancet, also showed that amygdala activity was linked to increased bone marrow activity and inflammation of the arteries.
Researcher Dr Ahmed Tawakol, of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, USA, said: "Our results provide a unique insight into how stress may lead to cardiovascular disease. This raises the possibility that reducing stress could produce benefits that extend beyond an improved sense of psychological wellbeing.
"Eventually, chronic stress could be treated as an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which is routinely screened for and effectively managed like other major cardiovascular disease risk factors."
Emily Reeves, of the British Heart Foundation, said the findings could lead to patients at risk of cardiovascular disease being screened for stress levels.
She said: "The link between stress and increased risk of developing heart disease has previously focused on the lifestyle habits people take up when they feel stressed such as smoking, drinking too much alcohol and overeating.
"Exploring the brain’s management of stress and discovering why it increases the risk of heart disease, will allow us to develop new ways of managing chronic psychological stress."
Relation between resting amygdalar activity and cardiovascular events: a longitudinal and cohort study Lancet 12 January 2017 [abstract]
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