Does Mental Stress Affect Heart Health Differently in Men and Women?

Mental stress produces different cardiovascular and psychological reactions in men and women, according to a recent study.

“Although emotional stress is associated with ischemic heart disease (IHD) and related clinical events, sex-specific differences in the psychobiological response to mental stress have not been clearly identified,” said the study’s authors.

For the study, researchers examined 56 women and 254 men previously diagnosed with heart disease who were a part of the REMIT study, which evaluated the effect of escitalopram on heart disease caused by mental stress.
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Researchers gave participants 3 mentally stressful tasks followed by a treadmill exercise test after they underwent baseline testing: a mirror tracing test, an anger recall test, and a mental math test.  Blood samples were collected, blood pressure and heart rate was measured, and an echocardiography of each participant was conducted during the mental stress tasks and the rest periods between each test.

The study showed that more women experienced myocardial ischemia in response to mental stress compared to men, who showed greater changes in heart rate and blood pressure. Further, women had more blood clots and negative emotions compared to men.

The investigators noted that further studies would need to be conducted to fully assess the differences in the heart’s response to mental stress among the various sexes.  The study failed to evaluate the entire impact of negative physiological response to psychological stress for both men and women.

The complete study is published in the October issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

-Michelle Canales

Reference:

Samad A, Boyle S, Ersboll M, et al. Sex differences in platelet reactivity, cardiovascular and psychological response to mental stress in patients with stable ischemic heart disease: insignts from the response of mental stress-induced myocardial ischemia to escitalopram (REMIT) study. JACC. 2014 October [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2014.04.087.