Men who tend to worry have increased risk factors for heart disease, stroke: study
Fox News
Middle-aged men who worry more or are prone to feeling overwhelmed developed more high-risk factors for heart disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes earlier in life, according to a published study
A group of researchers from Boston University School of Medicine performed a study that followed men in the U.S. for over 4 decades. The Boston researchers said in the study that men prone to worry and anxiety might need to monitor their cardiometabolic disease risk factors, which include maintaining healthy weight and taking medications to control blood pressure and cholesterol.
"While the participants were primarily white men, our findings indicate higher levels of anxiousness or worry among men are linked to biological processes that may give rise to heart disease and metabolic conditions," Lewina Lee, Ph.D., lead author of the study and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine, said in a news release. Lee, who is also an investigator and clinical psychologist at the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, in Boston added, "These associations may be present much earlier in life than is commonly appreciated – potentially during childhood or young adulthood".