Thursday, April 26, 2012

When Stress, Women Prone to Heart Attack

A latest research indicates that mental stress experienced by women make them at greater risk of heart attack than men. The study results showed that during periods of mental stress, women blood flow to heart tend to increase in men. However, in women, these conditions can not be seen from outside.

Researchers concluded that women becomes more susceptible to heart problems when under stress than men. The findings will be presented this week in Experimental Biology meeting in San Diego, California.

In research, researchers involve 17 healthy men and women. Blood pressure and heart rate of participants was measured during take rest and during feeling stress. The researchers used ultrasound scans to measure participants blood flow in coronary arteries, which are blood vessels that supply blood to heart.

Then, the researchers gave the participants the arithmetic test. To increase the level of stress, researchers urged the participants to complete the test as soon as possible. Researchers also blame each participant answers, although they actually had the right answer.

At rest, the circulation of blood flow in men and women show some differences. During the arithmetic test, all participants showed an increase in heart rate and blood pressure. Under conditions of stress, male participants showed an increase in coronary blood flow, but the increase would not be experienced by female participants.

"These differences could potentially affect a woman to get heart problem when under stress," said Chester Ray, a researcher who is also professor at Penn State College of Medicine.

Ray says, the result is quite surprising given previous studies showing that men have lower blood flow than women when have physical stress caused by exercise.

The new findings could explain why women tend to have more heart problems after stressful event. A condition called broken heart syndrome, in which the heart muscle to temporarily weaken, occurs almost exclusively in women.

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