Episodes of intense anger can 'increase heart attack risk'
Health
Episodes of intense anger can 'increase heart attack risk'
Blowing your top Malcolm Tucker-style can dramatically increase the risk of a heart attack, a study has found. An episode of intense anger was found to raise the chances of an attack more than eight-fold in the two hours afterwards.The research adds to previous evidence from studies and anecdotal reports that anger can act as a heart attack trigger. Malcolm Tucker, the government spin doctor portrayed by Peter Capaldi in the hit BBC TV comedy The Thick of It, is famous for his explosive angry rants.
While the absolute risk of any one anger episode triggering a heart attack is low, our data demonstrates that the danger is real and still there.
Dr Thomas Buckley, University of Sydney, Australia
The research focused on 313 heart attack patients admitted to the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney between 2006 and 2012 who were questioned about their emotional state in the 48 hours before they fell ill. A seven-point scale was used to assess anger levels ranging from "calm" to "enraged, out of control, throwing objects, hurting yourself or others". The threshold of acute anger was defined by a score of five - "very angry, body tense, maybe fists clenched, ready to burst". Compared with patients' "usual" anger patterns, the relative risk of having a heart attack was 8.5 times higher in the two hours after an outburst rated as level five or above. High anxiety levels were also associated with an increased risk of heart attack, raising the risk more than nine-fold. Dr Buckley said the effect was mostly likely due to "increased heart rate and blood pressure, tightening of blood vessels and increased clotting".
More research is needed to explore their suggested link of intense anger as a trigger for a heart attack.
Doireann Maddock, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation
