Economic pressures, isolation, and demanding working conditions can accompany us for years. A new study on chronic stress and the heart has examined how these circumstances relate to cardiovascular health even before symptoms appear.
A study involving 480,000 adults links higher stress exposure to inflammation, changes in the heart’s structure, and a greater risk of suffering heart attacks or even strokes. The highest-stress group had a relative risk about 43% higher than the lowest-exposure group.
The study, in which Imperial College London participated, also identifies differences in genetic susceptibility and opens more avenues for research to detect earlier those who could benefit from preventive measures.
Chronic Stress and the Heart
A study reveals that chronic inflammation linked to people’s socioeconomic status and lifestyle is related to changes in the heart, as well as to a greater risk of having heart attacks and strokes.
The results, published in European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, come from a study conducted with nearly half a million UK adults.
According to Matia Coriano, the study’s lead author and a researcher at the Imperial College London, chronic stress is defined as recurrent exposure to psychological or environmental triggers. “Among them, social inequalities, poverty, lower educational attainment, lack of social connections, and demanding working conditions are among the most stressful factors,” he notes.
Its long-term effects can appear years before people experience any cardiovascular symptom, making them a silent threat to health.
“Our study — the largest of its kind — suggests that millions of people could be living with hidden inflammation that affects their heart, increasing the risk of a heart attack or a stroke,” explains the study’s leader and researcher at the Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Medical Sciences, Declan O’Regan. “Chronic inflammation is complex, but we know it is linked to our health and is shaped by our lifestyle, so people may be at higher risk due to their environment, economic situation, family health, and diet.”
Half a Million People
To determine this, researchers analyzed data from the UK Biobank encompassing 480,000 adults and examined the exposome, which covers external and internal environmental exposures people experience over their lifetimes.
In this case, they found that people with higher stress levels had a 43% higher risk of suffering a myocardial infarction or a stroke than those with the lowest levels.
Specifically, those with higher stress showed signs of structural changes in the heart, such as thickened walls, smaller cardiac chambers, and poorer filling.
“Our findings suggest that systemic inflammation has a significant biological link between adverse environmental exposures and cardiovascular disease,” adds Coriano. “Psychological and environmental stressors promote inflammatory responses characterized by activation of the immune system and the release of cytokines that can influence the heart and contribute to changes in its structure and function.”
Genetic Factors
Nevertheless, a strong genetic factor was also observed, as some people are naturally more resistant or susceptible to inflammatory damage.
“We found that genetic backgrounds can modify the relationship between environmental exposures and inflammation, suggesting that inherited susceptibility influences how our bodies respond to adverse conditions,” he explains.
However, people who are susceptible or exposed to such circumstances are not doomed to develop heart disease, as there is much that can be done to prevent long-term inflammation.
A Window into Prevention
The study identified key inflammatory proteins from the interleukin-1 and TNF families as likely drivers of this damage. Today, these proteins are already targets of drugs in clinical trials, which raises hope that new treatments could prevent cardiovascular diseases before symptoms appear.
These results point to the possibility that combining blood tests to detect inflammation with genetic risk scores could help identify people most likely to benefit from early intervention.
