Daily Telegraph: ‘Direct biological link between chronic stress and chronic inflammation’

[Firestormm]

How stress damages the heart
For the first time scientists have found a direct biological link between stress and inflammation of blood vessels which can lead to heart attacks
22 June 2014

It is known that long term stress can cause fatal heart attacks and strokes, but scientists have never known why.

Stress triggers our so-called ‘fight or flight’ mechanism which sends a surge of adrenalin to help the heart pump harder and increase blood flow to enable the body to fight or run when encountering a perceived threat.

But new research suggests that stress also sends the immune system into overdrive, increasing white blood cells and worsening inflammation in the arteries.

And that can cause huge problems if arteries are already thickened with plaque.

When damaged arteries become more inflamed they produce lesions which can break away, leaving an open wound which blood platelets and clotting proteins rush to fill.

A clot can enlarge in a matter of moments and if it completely obstructs the artery, will cause a heart attack.

Dr Matthias Nahrendorf and his team at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School discovered that medical residents who were regularly exposed to chronic stress had a huge white blood cell counts.

They also found that when mice are stressed, the stem cells in their bone marrow were activated and produced large numbers of white blood cells (leukocytes).

Where mice already had thickened arteries (atherosclerosis) the blood cells increased inflammation and caused the same lesion-like plaques to form which rupture in humans and cause heart attacks...

The team said it was the first time that a ‘direct biological link between chronic stress and chronic inflammation’ had been shown.

The findings were published in Nature Medicine.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10916211/How-stress-damages-the-heart.html

 

[Valentijn]

The article seems to be at http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nm.3589.html (pay to read).

Based on the abstract, it sounds like conjecture + mice + one or two human test subjects (or just more conjecture)?

At any rate, they're presenting some very big conclusions in the Telegraph based on rather tenuous evidence.

 

[alex3619]

I think this is the second thread on this? The first talks about stress inducing disruption of biofilms, so that bacterial colonies etc break away and can block arteries.

 

[MeSci]

Here is what looks like a good article about the study, but the link may change as the news does.

They looked at 29 medical students.

 

[Firestormm]

Science
22 June 2014

Signs of stress. Chronic stress causes dangerous changes to atherosclerotic plaques inside blood vessels—like the one shown here.

How stress can clog your arteries

There’s a reason people say “Calm down or you’re going to have a heart attack.” Chronic stress—such as that brought on by job, money, or relationship troubles—is suspected to increase the risk of a heart attack. Now, researchers studying harried medical residents and harassed rodents have offered an explanation for how, at a physiological level, long-term stress can endanger the cardiovascular system. It revolves around immune cells that circulate in the blood, they propose.

The new finding is “surprising,” says physician and atherosclerosis researcher Alan Tall of Columbia University, who was not involved in the new study. “The idea has been out there that chronic psychosocial stress is associated with increased cardiovascular disease in humans, but what’s been lacking is a mechanism,” he notes....

...More immediately, the new observations suggest a way that clinicians could screen patients for their risk of atherosclerosis, heart attack, and stroke, Tall says. “Rather than asking four questions about stress levels, we could use their white blood cell counts to monitor psychosocial stress,” he says.

Read more: http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2014/06/how-stress-can-clog-your-arteries

 

[Kati]

And stress is also link to stomach ulcers, right?

 

[biophile]

Rather than asking four questions about stress levels, we could use their white blood cell counts to monitor psychosocial stress,” he says.

How reliable is that method as a measure of "psychosocial stress"?

 

[Valentijn]

Here is what looks like a good article about the study, but the link may change as the news does.

They looked at 29 medical students.

That makes a lot more sense at least. The abstract was rather incomprehensible.

 

[Valentijn]

How reliable is that method as a measure of "psychosocial stress"?

I'd imagine there would be a HUGE problem with specificity. But the psychobabblers won't mind, since it means they'd get to screw around with a lot of biologically ill people.

The review linked by @MeSci actually has a really good summary of the weaknesses of the study.

 

[MeSci]

I'd imagine there would be a HUGE problem with specificity. But the psychobabblers won't mind, since it means they'd get to screw around with a lot of biologically ill people.

The review linked by @MeSci actually has a really good summary of the weaknesses of the study.

But it has now vanished from the site and I can't find it again. Should have copied the text. @Firestormm's one is good though.

 

[Valentijn]

But it has now vanished from the site and I can't find it again. Should have copied the text. @Firestormm's one is good though.

I think the same one is at http://www.nhs.uk/news/2014/06June/Pages/Stress-causes-damage-to-the-heart.aspx

 

[Firestormm]

I think the same one is at http://www.nhs.uk/news/2014/06June/Pages/Stress-causes-damage-to-the-heart.aspx

I must say that recently (what with the Julia Newton PoTS study and headlines) and now this, I have been impressed with NHS Choices and their ability to analyse such science-behind-the-headlines. I don't know who write it but they are doing a far far better job that e.g. Science Media Centre etc. and certainly the newspapers ever do

 

[MeSci]

I must say that recently (what with the Julia Newton PoTS study and headlines) and now this, I have been impressed with NHS Choices and their ability to analyse such science-behind-the-headlines. I don't know who write it but they are doing a far far better job that e.g. Science Media Centre etc. and certainly the newspapers ever do

Generally I have always found NHS web info good. Shame that doctors don't seem to read it!