Stress Can Help Trigger Stroke

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Stress Can Help Trigger Stroke

Published: 03/03/08

MONDAY, March 3 (HealthDay News) -- The notion that stress can help bring on a

stroke may have merit, British researchers say.

" If you divide the population into five different groups according to how

severe their stress is, someone in the highest stress group, reporting the

greatest stress, has a 40 percent increased risk of stroke than someone in the

lowest group, " said G. Surtees, a psychologist at the University of

Cambridge. " That is quite a difference. "

On the other hand, his team found no association between depression and stroke

risk.

Reporting in the March 4 issue of Neurology, Surtees' group followed more than

20,000 British men and women, aged 41 to 80, for an average of 8.5 years. The

participants answered questions on their levels of stress and depression, using

standard measures of mental health.

A total of 595 participants experienced a stroke during the study period, 167

of them fatal.

The risk of stroke rose steadily with the amount of stress reported, the

researchers said, and the relationship was not changed when other stroke risk

factors -- such as smoking, blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and family history

-- were factored in.

The risk of stroke was not increased for participants who reported

experiencing major depression at any time in their lives or who had had an

episode of major depression in the past year.

According to Surtees, the study was not designed to determine how stress might

increase stroke risk. " We have thought about this, and we have concluded that

the mechanism is linked to the ability to adapt to psychological stress, " he

said. " People differ considerably in the way they deal with stressful

circumstances. The increase is probably due to that, but we need to follow it

up. "

The relationship might have a simple explanation, said Dr. Mark Goldberg,

professor of neurology at Washington University in St. Louis. " People who are

under a great deal of stress may not take medications that are prescribed for

them, " he speculated.

Those medications would be aimed at conditions known to increase the risk of

stroke -- high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, diabetes and the like,

Goldberg said. But the newly reported study does not mean that stress should be

ranked among those leading risk factors, he said.

The increased risk due to stress " is nothing compared to the relative risk of

high blood pressure or smoking or all the other known risk factors, " Goldberg

said.

" I don't think this should change our understanding of how we should deal with

the risk of stroke, " he said. Stress is associated with a number of conditions,

Goldberg noted. " It increases the risk of infection, cancer and mental health

problems, " he said.

" Ours was not a treatment study, so we are not free to comment on how the risk

might be reduced, " Surtees said. " If I were speculating, I would say that if

people learn to deal with stresses in life more effectively, it might contribute

to reducing their risk. "

More information

Find out more about stroke risk factors at the American Heart Association.

Last reviewed: 03/03/2008 | Last updated: 03/03/2008

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