What Doctors Don't Tell YouLearn to manage your anger if you want to avoid a heart attack that’s the message from researchers at the University of North Carolina.
Janice Williams and colleagues studied 12,986 individuals over a six year period, assessing their level of anger by using a special questionnaire. Each participant was classified as having either high, middle or low anger traits (8 per cent, 55 per cent and 37 per cent, respectively, of the participants in this study).
During the course of the study, 256 individuals had heart attacks. Those who had high anger ratings were 2.7 times more likely to have a heart attack than those with the lowest anger ratings.
The researchers also found that the most angry among the people studied were more likely to be younger and male, and more likely to be smokers and drinkers (Circulation, 2000; 101: 2034-9).
In another study, researchers at Ohio State University, USA, reported that angry individuals have higher plasma concentrations of homocysteine. Raised homocysteine levels are associated with a greater risk of coronary heart disease (Life Sci, 2000; 66: 2267-75).
Steve Taylor
Elliott Dacher MD
Dr. Judith Orloff MD