Tag Archives: anxiety

Work related stress can kill

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A stressful job can alter the way body handles fat – leading to raised cholesterol and deadly heart disease.

Spanish researchers have found that stressful situations affect how the body metabolises fat – ultimately ending up with there being too much ‘bad’ cholesterol.

Experts have been saying for years that emotional stress is linked to the risk of suffering cardiovascular disease as a result of unhealthy habits such as smoking, an unsuitable diet or leading a sedentary lifestyle, among other factors.

But the new research shows that stress can trigger dyslipidemia, a disorder that alters the levels of fats and lipoproteins in the blood.

Researchers at the Virgen de la Victoria Hospital in Malaga and the Santiago de Compostela University analysed the relationship between job stress and different parameters associated with how fatty acids are metabolised in the body.

The study, published in the ‘Scandinavian Journal of Public Health’, was conducted on a sample population of more than 90,000 workers undergoing medical check-ups.

Cholesterol

Cholesterol

‘The workers who stated that they had experienced difficulties in dealing with their job during the previous 12 months (8.7 per cent of the sample) had a higher risk of suffering from dyslipidemia,’ said Carlos Catalina, clinical psychologist and an expert in work-related stress.

Dyslipidemia ca result in an increase in total cholesterol and ‘bad’ LDL and triglyceride levels, and cause levels of ‘good’ HDL cholesterol to drop.


Specifically, people who suffered from job stress were more likely to suffer from abnormally high levels of bad cholesterol, excessively low levels of good cholesterol (the ‘good’ cholesterol) and were more likely to develop blocked arteries.

‘One of the mechanisms that could explain the relationship between stress and cardiovascular risk could be the changes in our lipid profile, which means higher rates of plaque accumulation [leading to hardening] of the arteries,’ said Dr Catalina.

One possibility is that stress interferes with the body’s ability to rid itself of excess cholesterol – or it may trigger a number of inflammatory processes which also increase cholesterol production.

Alternatively, stress may also encourage the body to produce more energy in the form of fatty acids and glucose.

These substances require the liver to produce and secrete more LDL cholesterol so they can be transported to the other tissues of the body.

Depression in women and stroke risk

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Women in their 40s and 50s with depression are more than twice as likely to suffer a stroke, warns a landmark study.

Striking evidence suggests that the condition makes them more vulnerable in this age group – younger than previously expected.

In the 12-year study of thousands of women aged 47 to 52, it was found those with depression were 2.4 times more likely to suffer a stroke compared to those without.

Even after taking out risk factors, depressed women were still nearly twice as likely to suffer a stroke.

Study author Caroline Jackson said current guidelines for stroke prevention overlook the potential role of depression. ‘Doctors need to recognize the serious nature of poor mental health and what effects it can have in the long term,’ she said. ‘We may need more targeted approaches to prevent and treat depression in younger women.’

Depression affects one in ten adults in the UK at any time. There has been a big rise in the prescription of anti-depressants in the last 20 years, particularly for women.

Dr Jackson, an epidemiologist, and colleagues at the University of Queensland analysed results from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health. This was the first large-scale study examining the link between depression and stroke in younger middle-aged women.

More than 10,500 answered questions about their mental and physical health and other personal details every three years from 1998-2010.

One in four reported being depressed, based on their replies to a standardised depression scale and recent use of anti-depressants. There were 177 first-time strokes during the study published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Researchers took into account factors which can affect stroke risk, such as age, socioeconomic status and lifestyle habits like smoking, drinking and physical activity.

Depression

Depression

Also considered were physiological conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease, being overweight and diabetes.


The closest comparison was a US study of women whose average age was 14 years older. This found a 30 per cent higher risk of stroke among those who were depressed.

Dr Jackson said she would expect similar results to her study in America and Europe.
The reasons for any link are unclear but the effects on blood vessels of the body’s inflammatory and immunological processes may be involved, she said.

Other possible factors are that patients with depression tend to have less healthy diets and take less exercise. They are also less likely to take medicine if they have high blood pressure or cholesterol, both risk factors for stroke.

Some anti-depressants may also slightly raise the threat.

Dr Jackson reassured women that the absolute risk of stroke was still fairly low in this age group.
In the study, about 1.5 per cent of the total had a stroke, rising to just over 2 per cent among those with depression.