Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2002 Winter;27(4):141-7.
doi: 10.1080/08964280209596039.

Psychosocial stress and cardiovascular disease: pathophysiological links

C Noel Bairey Merz  1 , James Dwyer, Cheryl K Nordstrom, Kenneth G Walton, John W Salerno, Robert H Schneider
Affiliations
Review

Psychosocial stress and cardiovascular disease: pathophysiological links

C Noel Bairey Merz et al. Behav Med. 2002 Winter.

Abstract

The remarkable decline in cardiovascular disease (CVD) experienced in developed countries over the last 40 years appears to have abated. Currently, many CVD patients continue to show cardiac events despite optimal treatment of traditional risk factors. This evidence suggests that additional interventions, particularly those aimed at nontraditional factors, might be useful for continuing the decline. Psychosocial stress is a newly recognized (nontraditional) risk factor that appears to contribute to all recognized mechanisms underlying cardiac events, specifically, (a) clustering of traditional cardiovascular risk factors, (b) endothelial dysfunction, (c) myocardial ischemia, (d) plaque rupture, (e) thrombosis, and (f) malignant arrhythmias. A better understanding of the behavioral and physiologic associations between psychosocial stress and CVD will assist researchers in identifying effective approaches for reducing or reversing the damaging effects of stress and may lead to further reductions of CVD morbidity and mortality.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A model of recognized steps leading to events that characterize cardiovascular disease.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Sytkowski PA, Kannel WB, Agostino RB. Changes in risk factors and the decline in mortality from cardiovascular disease. The Framingham Heart Study. N Engl J Med. 1990;322:1635–1641. - PubMed
    1. Rosamond WD, Chambless LE, Folsom AR, et al. Trends in the incidence of myocardial infarction and in mortality due to coronary heart disease, 1987–1994. N Engl J Med. 1998;339:861–867. - PubMed
    1. Levy D, Thom TJ. Death rates from coronary disease—progress and a puzzling paradox. N Engl J Med. 1998;229:915–917. - PubMed
    1. Haskell WL, Alderman EL, Fair JM, et al. Effects of intensive multiple risk factor reduction on coronary atherosclerosis and clinical cardiac events in men and women with coronary artery disease: The Stanford Coronary Risk Intervention Project (SCRIP) Circulation. 1994;89:975–990. - PubMed
    1. Frasure–Smith N. In-hospital symptoms of psychological stress as predictors of long-term outcome after acute myocardial infarction in men. Am J Cardiol. 1991;67:121–127. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms