High stress, hostility, depression linked with increased stroke risk

July 10, 2014
Science Daily/American Heart Association
Higher levels of stress, hostility and depressive symptoms are associated with significantly increased risk of stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) in middle-age and older adults, according to new research. A TIA is a stroke caused by a temporary blockage of blood flow to the brain.

Compared to people with the lowest psychological scores, those with highest scores were:
    86 percent more likely to have a stroke or TIA for high depressive symptoms.
    59 percent more likely to have a stroke or TIA for the highest chronic stress scores.
    More than twice as likely to have a stroke or TIA for the highest hostility scores.

No significant increased risk was linked to anger. "There's such a focus on traditional risk factors -- cholesterol levels, blood pressure, smoking and so forth -- and those are all very important, but studies like this one show that psychological characteristics are equally important," said Susan Everson-Rose, Ph.D., M.P.H., study lead author and associate professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140710161437.htm