Hair shows chronic stress link to heart attacks



Chronic stress plays an important role in heart attacks, according to an Israeli-Canadian study of stress hormone levels in hair.

Ongoing psychological stressors such as job strain, marital problems and financial stress have been linked to a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease including heart attacks, but not all studies have found such links.

Some studies used questionnaires that asked people to recall stress levels, which might be difficult to remember accurately. Scientists have been looking for a biological marker to test the role of chronic stress in heart attacks.

Cortisol, a hormone secreted in higher levels during times of stress, is traditionally measured in blood, urine or saliva. But those measurements reflect stress only at a certain period of time, not long stretches.

Hair, however, captures cortisol levels over a longer period, stated study author Dr. Gideon Koren, who holds the Ivey chair in molecular toxicology at the University of Western Ontario in London.

Since hair grows one centimetre per month on average, a six-centimetre long hair sample can show cortisol levels over six months, he said.

Israeli hospital used

In the study, published in Friday’s on-line issue of the journal Stress, researchers collected three-centimetre-long hair samples from 56 men admitted to the Meir Medical Centre in Kfar-Saba, Israel, suffering heart attacks or acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

A control group of 56 who were treated in hospital for reasons other than a heart attack also provided hair samples.

“In conclusion, hair cortisol concentrations were found to be elevated in the three months prior to the event in patients admitted with AMI, than in controls,” the study’s authors wrote.

“Hair cortisol measurements can be used to identify patients at high risk for AMI who may benefit from strategies targeted to manage chronic stress, and as an impetus for more aggressive treatment of other modifiable risk factors.”

Risk factors like hypertension, smoking and family history were similar in both groups, but the heart attack patients had more cholesterol problems.

After taking known risk factors into account, hair cortisol levels was the strongest predicator of heart attack, the researchers said.

The study has implications for doctors, since stress can be managed with lifestyle changes and psychotherapy, Koren said.

The study was funded by Physician Services Inc. and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

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Submited at Friday, September 3rd, 2010 at 9:00 am on Health by admin
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