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Goodarzynejad H, Sheikh Fathollahi M, Shafiee A. Editorial: The role of sex in coronary artery disease. Front Cardiovasc Med 2023; 10:1220439. [PMID: 37332593 PMCID: PMC10275334 DOI: 10.3389/fcvm.2023.1220439] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2023] [Accepted: 05/12/2023] [Indexed: 06/20/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Hamidreza Goodarzynejad
- Family Medicine Teaching Unit, North York General Hospital, Toronto, Canada
- Tehran Heart Center, Cardiovascular Diseases Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Mahmood Sheikh Fathollahi
- Rajaei Cardiovascular, Medical and Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Akbar Shafiee
- Tehran Heart Center, Cardiovascular Diseases Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
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Sullivan S, Young A, Garcia M, Almuwaqqat Z, Moazzami K, Hammadah M, Lima BB, Hu Y, Jajeh MN, Alkhoder A, Elon L, Lewis TT, Shah AJ, Mehta PK, Bremner JD, Quyyumi AA, Vaccarino V. Sex Differences in Vascular Response to Mental Stress and Adverse Cardiovascular Events Among Patients With Ischemic Heart Disease. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 2023; 43:e112-e120. [PMID: 36857628 PMCID: PMC10164352 DOI: 10.1161/atvbaha.122.318576] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2022] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 03/03/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Microvascular measures of vascular dysfunction during acute mental stress may be important determinants of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), especially among younger and middle-aged women survivors of an acute myocardial infarction. METHODS In the MIMS2 study (Myocardial Infarction and Mental Stress 2), individuals who had been hospitalized for a myocardial infarction in the past 8 months were prospectively followed for 5 years. MACE was defined as a composite index of cardiovascular death and first/recurring events for nonfatal myocardial infarction and hospitalizations for heart failure. Reactive hyperemia index and flow-mediated dilation were used to measure microvascular and endothelial function, respectively, before and 30 minutes after a public-speaking mental stress task. Survival models for recurrent events were used to examine the association between vascular response to stress (difference between poststress and resting values) and MACE. Reactive hyperemia index and flow-mediated dilation were standardized in analyses. RESULTS Of 263 patients (the mean age was 51 years; range, 25-61), 48% were women, and 65% were Black. During a median follow-up of 4.3 years, 64 patients had 141 adverse cardiovascular events (first and repeated). Worse microvascular response to stress (for each SD decrease in the reactive hyperemia index) was associated with 50% greater risk of MACE (hazard ratio, 1.50 [95% CI, 1.05-2.13]; P=0.03) among women only (sex interaction: P=0.03). Worse transient endothelial dysfunction in response to stress (for each SD decrease in flow-mediated dilation) was associated with a 35% greater risk of MACE (hazard ratio, 1.35 [95% CI, 1.07-1.71]; P=0.01), and the association was similar in women and men. CONCLUSIONS Peripheral microvascular dysfunction with mental stress was associated with adverse events among women but not men. In contrast, endothelial dysfunction was similarly related to MACE among both men and women. These results suggest a female-specific mechanism linking psychological stress to adverse outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samaah Sullivan
- Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and
Environmental Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston,
Dallas, TX
- Department of Epidemiology, Emory University, Atlanta,
GA
| | - An Young
- Department of Epidemiology, Emory University, Atlanta,
GA
- Department of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
| | - Mariana Garcia
- Department of Epidemiology, Emory University, Atlanta,
GA
- Department of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
| | - Zakaria Almuwaqqat
- Department of Epidemiology, Emory University, Atlanta,
GA
- Department of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
| | - Kasra Moazzami
- Department of Epidemiology, Emory University, Atlanta,
GA
- Department of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
| | | | - Bruno B. Lima
- Department of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
| | - Yingtian Hu
- Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Emory
University, Atlanta, GA
| | | | | | - Lisa Elon
- Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Emory
University, Atlanta, GA
| | - Tené T. Lewis
- Department of Epidemiology, Emory University, Atlanta,
GA
| | - Amit J. Shah
- Department of Epidemiology, Emory University, Atlanta,
GA
- Department of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
- Atlanta VA Medical Center, Atlanta, GA
| | - Puja K. Mehta
- Department of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
| | - J. Douglas Bremner
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory
University, Atlanta, GA
- Atlanta VA Medical Center, Atlanta, GA
| | | | - Viola Vaccarino
- Department of Epidemiology, Emory University, Atlanta,
GA
- Department of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
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Helman TJ, Headrick JP, Stapelberg NJC, Braidy N. The sex-dependent response to psychosocial stress and ischaemic heart disease. Front Cardiovasc Med 2023; 10:1072042. [PMID: 37153459 PMCID: PMC10160413 DOI: 10.3389/fcvm.2023.1072042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2022] [Accepted: 04/03/2023] [Indexed: 05/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Stress is an important risk factor for modern chronic diseases, with distinct influences in males and females. The sex specificity of the mammalian stress response contributes to the sex-dependent development and impacts of coronary artery disease (CAD). Compared to men, women appear to have greater susceptibility to chronic forms of psychosocial stress, extending beyond an increased incidence of mood disorders to include a 2- to 4-fold higher risk of stress-dependent myocardial infarction in women, and up to 10-fold higher risk of Takotsubo syndrome-a stress-dependent coronary-myocardial disorder most prevalent in post-menopausal women. Sex differences arise at all levels of the stress response: from initial perception of stress to behavioural, cognitive, and affective responses and longer-term disease outcomes. These fundamental differences involve interactions between chromosomal and gonadal determinants, (mal)adaptive epigenetic modulation across the lifespan (particularly in early life), and the extrinsic influences of socio-cultural, economic, and environmental factors. Pre-clinical investigations of biological mechanisms support distinct early life programming and a heightened corticolimbic-noradrenaline-neuroinflammatory reactivity in females vs. males, among implicated determinants of the chronic stress response. Unravelling the intrinsic molecular, cellular and systems biological basis of these differences, and their interactions with external lifestyle/socio-cultural determinants, can guide preventative and therapeutic strategies to better target coronary heart disease in a tailored sex-specific manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tessa J. Helman
- Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, NSW, Sydney, Australia
- Correspondence: Tessa J. Helman
| | - John P. Headrick
- Schoolof Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, Griffith University, Southport, QLD, Australia
| | | | - Nady Braidy
- Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, NSW, Sydney, Australia
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Sara JDS, Toya T, Ahmad A, Clark MM, Gilliam WP, Lerman LO, Lerman A. Mental Stress and Its Effects on Vascular Health. Mayo Clin Proc 2022; 97:951-990. [PMID: 35512885 PMCID: PMC9058928 DOI: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2022.02.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2021] [Revised: 01/24/2022] [Accepted: 02/08/2022] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Coronary artery disease continues to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality despite significant advances in risk stratification and management. This has prompted the search for alternative nonconventional risk factors that may provide novel therapeutic targets. Psychosocial stress, or mental stress, has emerged as an important risk factor implicated in a higher incidence of cardiovascular events, and although our understanding of this far ranging and interesting phenomenon has developed greatly over recent times, there is still much to be learned regarding how to measure mental stress and how it may impact physical health. With the current coronavirus disease 2019 global pandemic and its incumbent lockdowns and social distancing, understanding the potentially harmful biological effects of stress related to life-changing events and social isolation has become even more important. In the current review our multidisciplinary team discusses stress from a psychosocial perspective and aims to define psychological stress as rigorously as possible; discuss the pathophysiologic mechanisms by which stress may mediate cardiovascular disease, with a particular focus to its effects on vascular health; outline existing methods and approaches to quantify stress by means of a vascular biomarker; outline the mechanisms whereby psychosocial stressors may have their pathologic effects ultimately transduced to the vasculature through the neuroendocrine immunologic axis; highlight areas for improvement to refine existing approaches in clinical research when studying the consequences of psychological stress on cardiovascular health; and discuss evidence-based therapies directed at reducing the deleterious effects of mental stress including those that target endothelial dysfunction. To this end we searched PubMed and Google Scholar to identify studies evaluating the relationship between mental or psychosocial stress and cardiovascular disease with a particular focus on vascular health. Search terms included "myocardial ischemia," "coronary artery disease," "mental stress," "psychological stress," "mental∗ stress∗," "psychologic∗ stress∗," and "cardiovascular disease∗." The search was limited to studies published in English in peer-reviewed journals between 1990 and the present day. To identify potential studies not captured by our database search strategy, we also searched studies listed in the bibliography of relevant publications and reviews.
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Key Words
- cad, coronary artery disease
- cbt, cognitive behavioral therapy
- cvd, cardiovascular disease
- fmd, flow-mediated dilatation
- il, interleukin
- mi, myocardial infarction
- ms, mental stress
- msimi, mental stress induced myocardial ischemia
- pat, peripheral arterial tonometry
- ped, peripheral endothelial dysfunction
- pet, positron emission tomography
- rh, reactive hyperemia
- ses, socioeconomic status
- tnf, tumor necrosis factor
- vsmc, vascular smooth muscle cells
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Takumi Toya
- Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
| | - Ali Ahmad
- Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
| | - Matthew M Clark
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
| | - Wesley P Gilliam
- Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
| | - Lliach O Lerman
- Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
| | - Amir Lerman
- Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
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