Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T05:52:54.488Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Psychological factors associated with coronary heart disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

Andrej Marusic
Andrej Marusic*
Affiliation:
Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, SE5 8AL London, England
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objectives: Psychological coronary-proncncss is most probably one of the first recognised risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD). The mechanisms by which psychological risk factors might exert their influence on the cardiovascular system arc less clear than those for the more standard biological risk factors. The aim of this review was to classify all possible mechanisms of potentiation of CHD by psychological factors.

Method: A MEDLINE search was conducted by selecting literature on both standard biological risk factors (eg. dyslipidaemia, hypertension, smoking) and psychological risk factors (eg. personality traits, behavioural characteristics, coping with stress) for CHD.

Results: It was suggested that six biological mechanisms could mediate psychological influences specifically for CHD, of course, together with the seventh mechanism of general alterations in health-related behaviours. These are: increased oxygen demand of the heart muscle, decreased blood supply to the heart muscle, increased concentration of blood, enhanced blood clotting, increase in cholesterol and other plasma lipids, disturbances of blood sugar level, and alterations in health-related behaviours.

Conclusions: If more studies of CHD were conducted with both physical and psychological risk factors simultaneously, it would be possible to investigate which of the above suggested mechanisms are important, which could in turn substantially improve both primary and secondary preventive measures.

Keywords

Coronary diseaseCoronary-prone personalityPsychosocial pathogenicityRisk factor(s)Health-related behaviourPrevention.
Type
Reviews
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 17 , Issue 4 , December 2000 , pp. 135 - 139
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Williams, RB Jr.Neurocardiology. Kalamazoo, Michigan: The Upjohn Company, 1989.Google Scholar
2.Osler, W. The Limleian lectures on angina pectoris. Lancet 1910; 1: 839–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Dunbar, F. Psychosomatic diagnosis. New York: Harper and Row, 1943.Google Scholar
4.Friedman, M, Rosenman, RH. Association of specific behaviour pattern with blood and cardiovascular findings. JAMA 1959; 169: 1286–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Farmer, JA, Gotto, AM Jr.Dyslipidemia and other risk factors for coronary artery disease. In: Heart disease. A textbook of cardiovascular medicine. 5th ed. Ed: Braunwald, E. Philadelphia: WB Saunders, 1997; 1126–60.Google Scholar
6.Marmor, M, Winkelstein, W Jr.Epidemiologic observations on intervention trials for prevention of coronary heart disease. Am J Epidemiol 1975; 101: 177–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Dembroski, TM. Czajkowski, SM. Historical and current developments in coronary-prone behaviour. In: In search of coronary-prone behaviour: Beyond Type A. Eds: Siegman, AW, Dembroski, TM. New Jersey: Hillsdale, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc. Publishers, 1989; 21–39.Google Scholar
8.MRFIT Research Group. Risk factor changes and mortality results. JAMA 1982; 248: 1465–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Kop, WJ. Chronic and acute psychological risk factors for clinical manifestations of coronary artery disease. Psychosom Med 1999; 61: 476–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10.Rozanski, A, Blumenrhal, JA, Kaplan, J. Impact of psychological factors on the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease and implications for therapy. Circulation 1999; 99: 2192–217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
11.Manuck, SB, Marsland, AL, Kaplan, JR, Williams, JK. The pathogenicity of behaviour and its neuroendocrine mediation: An example from coronary artery disease. Psychosom Med 1995; 57: 275–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12.Schneiderman, N. Psychophysiologic factors in atherogenesis and coronary artery disease. Circulation 1987; 76 (suppl 1): 141–7.Google ScholarPubMed
13.Cohen, S, Kaplan, JR, Manuck, SB. Social support and coronary heart disease: Underlying psychological and biological mechanisms. In: Social support and cardiovascular disease. Eds: Shumaker, SA, Czajkowski, SM. New York: Plenum, 1994: 195–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Suis, J, Rittenhouse, JD. Models of linkages between personality and disease. In: Personality and disease. Wiley series on health psychology/behavioural medicine. Ed: Friedman, HS. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1990: 38–64.Google Scholar
15.Goldstein, HS, Edelberg, R, Meier, CF, Davis, L. Relationship of resting blood pressure and heart rate to experienced anger and expressed anger. Psychosom Med 1988; 50: 321–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16.Meredith, IT, Esler, MD. Eisenhofer, G, Jennings, GL. The effects of simple daily life stresses on cardiac sympathetic activity, myocardial oxygen consumption and hemodynamics. Circulation 1990; 82: III–516.Google Scholar
17.Yeung, AC, Ganz, P, Selwyn, AP. Interactions between mental stress and coronary endorbehal dysfunction. Homeostasis 1993; 34: 244–51.Google Scholar
18.Specchia, Get al.Mental arithmetic stress testing in patients with coronary artery disease. Am Heart J 1984; 108: 56–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
19.Pickering, T, Gerin, W. Cardiovascular reactivity in the laboratory and the role of behavioural factors in hypertension: A critical review. Ann Behav Med 1990; 12: 3–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20.Henry, JP, Grim, CE. Psychosocial mechanisms of primary hypertension. J Hypertens 1990; 8: 783–93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21.Cobb, S, Rose, RM. Hypertension, peptic ulcer and diabetes in air traffic controllers. JAMA 1973; 224: 489–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
22.Winkleby, MA, Ragland, DR, Syme, SL. Self-reported stressors and hypertension: Evidence of an inverse association. Am J Epidemiol 1988; 127: 124–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
23.Hayrhornthwaite, JA. Behavioural stress, sodium intake, and blood pressure. Homeostasis 1993; 34: 302–12.Google Scholar
24.Obrist, PA. Cardiovascular psychophysiology: A perspective. New York: Plenum Press. 1981.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
25.Brody, MJ, Natelson, BH, Anderson, EAet al.Behavioural mechanisms in hypertension. Circulation 1987; 76: 195–100.Google ScholarPubMed
26.Fredrikson, M, Matthews, KA. Cardiovascular responses to behavioural stress and hypertension: A meta-analytic review. Ann Behav Med 1990; 12: 30–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
27.Fredrikson, M, Tuomisto, M, Berginan-Losman, B. Neuroendocrine and cardiovascular stress reactivity in middle-aged normotensive adults with parental history of cardiovascular disease. Psychophysiology 1991; 28: 656–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
28.Miller, SB, Friese, M, Sita, A. Parental history of hypertension, sodium loading, and cardiovascular response to stress. Psychosom Med 1995; 57: 381–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
29.Deary, IJ, MacLullich, AM. Mardon, J. Reporting of minor physical symptoms and family incidence of hypertension and heart disease. Relationships with personality and Type A behaviour. Person Individ Diff 1991; 12: 747–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
30.Rosenman, RH. Personality, behaviour patterns, and heart disease. In: Llandbook of stress, medicine, and health. Ed: Cooper, CL. Boca Raton, New York, London, Tokyo: CRC Press. 1996: 217–31.Google Scholar
31.Suis, J, Wan, CK, Costa, PT. Relationship of trait anger to resting blood-pressure – a metaanalysis. Health Psychol 1995; 14: 444–56.Google Scholar
32.Irvine, MJ, Garner, DM, Olmstead, MP, Logan, AG. Personality differences between hypertensive and normotensive individuals: Influence of knowledge of hypertension status. Psychosom Med 1989; 51: 537–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
33.Sloan, RP, Shapiro, PA, Bagiella, E, Myers, MM, Gorman, JM. Cardiac autonomic control buffets blood pressure variability responses to challenge: A psychophysiologic model of coronary artery disease. Psychosom Med 1999; 61: 58–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
34.Gullette, EC, Blumenthal, JA, Babyak, M. Effects of mental stress on myocardial ischemia during daily life? JAMA 1997; 277: 1521–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
35.Legault, SE, Breisblatt, WM, Jennings, JR, Manuck, SB, Follansbee, WP. Myocardial ischaemia during mental stress tesing: Is the mechanism different from exercise-induced ischaemia? Homeostasis 1993; 34: 252–65.Google Scholar
36.Nabel, EG, Ganz, P, Gordon, JB, Alexander, RW, Selwyn, AP. Dilation of normal and constriction of atherosclerotic coronary arteries caused by the cold pressure test. Circulation 1988; 77: 45–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
37.Gordon, JBet al.Atherosclerosis influences the vasomotor response of epicardial coronary arteries to exercise. J Clin Invest 1989; 83: 1946–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
38.Yeung, ACet al.The effect of atherosclerosis on the vasomotor response of coronary arteries to mental stress. N Engl J Med 1991; 325: 1551–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
39.Schoder, Het al.Effect of mental stress on myocardial blood flow and vasomorion in patients with coronary arrery disease. J Nucl Med 2000; 41: 11–6.Google Scholar
40.Ludmer, PLet al.Paradoxical vasoconstriction induced by acetylcholine in atherosclerotic coronary arteries. N Engl J Med 1986; 315: 1046–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
41.Fujii, J, Imataka, K. Elevation of blood pressure and hemoconcentration induced by mental stress. Homeostasis 1993; 34: 280–8.Google Scholar
42.Muldoon, MF, Bachen, EA, Manuck, SB, Waldstein, SR, Bricker, PL, Bennett, JA. Acute cholesterol responses to mental stress and change in posture. Arch Int Med 1992; 152: 775–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
43.Patterson, SM, Gottdiener, JS, Hecht, GM, Vargot, S, Krantz, DS. Effects of acute mental stress on serum lipids: Mediating effects of plasma volume. Psychosom Med 1993; 55: 525–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
44.Hilsted, J, Christensen, NJ, Larsen, S. Effects of catecholamines and insulin on plasma volume and intravascular mass of albumin in man. Clin Sci 1989; 77: 149–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
45.Kamarck, T, Jennings, JR. Biobehavioral factors in sudden cardiac death. Psychol Bull 1991; 96: 435–64.Google Scholar
46.Cannon, WB. Bodily changes in pain, hunger, fear, and rage. Boston: Branford, 1929.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
47.Patterson, SM, Kranrz, DS. Effects of psychological and physical stress on platelet function. Homeostasis 1993; 34: 271–9.Google Scholar
48.Hultin, MB. Fibrinogen and facror VII as risk factors in vascular disease. Prog Hemost Thromb 1991; 10: 215–41.Google Scholar
49.Siegrisr, J, Perer, R, Cremer, P, Seidel, D. Chronic work stress is associated with atherogenic lipids and elevared fibrinogen in middle-aged men. J Int Med 1997; 242: 149–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
50.Grignani, Get al.Platelet activation by emotional stress in patients with coronary arrery disease. Circulation 1991; 83 (suppl II): II128–36.Google Scholar
51.Markovitz, JH, Matthews, KA. Platelets and coronary heart disease: Potential psychophysiologic mechanisms. Psychosom Med 1991; 53: 643–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
52.Stoney, CM, Matthews, KA, McDonald, RH, Johnson, CA. Sex differences in lipid, lipoprotein, cardiovascular, and neuroendocrine responses to acute stress. Psychophysiology 1988; 25: 645–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
53.McCann, BS, Magee, MS, Broyles, FC, Vaughan, M, Albers, JJ, Knopp, RH. Acute psychological stress and epinephrine infusion in normolipidemic and hyperlipidemic men: Effects on plasma lipid and apoprotein concentrations. Psychosom Med 1995; 57: 165–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
54.Helz, JW, Templeton, B. Evidence of the role of psychosocial factors in diabetes mellitus: A review. Am J Psychiatry 1990; 147: 1275–82.Google ScholarPubMed
55.Kemmer, FW, Bisping, R, Steingruber, HJet al. Psychological stress and metabolic control in patients with type I diabetes mellitus. N Engl J Med 1986; 314: 1078–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
56.Tattersall, R, Gregory, R, Selby, C, Kerr, D, Heller, S. Course of brittle diabetes: 12 year follow up. Br Med J 1991; 302: 1240–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
57.Deary, IJ, Frier, BM. Personality, stress, and diabetes. In: Stress and emotion: Anxiety, anger, and curiosity. Vol. 15. Eds: Spielberger, CDet al.Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis, 1995: 33–49.Google Scholar
58.Alvarez, MA, Portilla, L, Gonzales, R, Ezcurra, E. Insulin response to short stress period. Psychoneuroendocrinology 1989; 14: 241–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
59.Raikkonen, K, Keltikangas-Jarvinen, L, Hautanen, A. The role of psychological coronary risk factors in insulin and glucose metabolism. J Psychosom Res 1994; 38: 705–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
60.Ornish, Det al.Can lifestyle changes reverse coronary heart disease? The Lifestyle Heart Trial. Lancet 1990; 336: 129–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
61.Ornish, Det al.Intensive lifestyle changes for reversal of coronary heart disease. JAMA 1998;280:2001–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
62.Wright, L, Carbonari, J, Voyles, W. A factor analytic study of physical risk variables for CHD. J Clin Psychol 1992: 48: 165–703.0.CO;2-S>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
63.Wright, L, Murcer, S, Adams, K, Welch, S, Paris, D. The factor analytic structure of seven physical CHD risk factors: A replication study. J Clin Psychol 1994; 50: 216–9.3.0.CO;2-5>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
64.Marusic, A, Gudionsson, GH, Eysenck, HJ, Starc, R. Biological and psychosocial risk factors in ischaemic heart disease: Empirical findings and a biopsychosocial model. Person Individ Diff 1999; 26: 285–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar