Stress: How Can This Affect A Woman’s Heart? - Dr. Atiemo

Dr. Atiemo:
I think there really are a lot of ways in which stress can affect the heart. Stress can lead to elevations in blood pressure. There are certain behavioral changes that we see under stressful situations. Patients may eat poorly; they may smoke more and so, there are a number of things that can happen under stressful situations.

More recently in the literature a condition known as stress cardiomyopathy has been described and this is a situation in which under emotional stress patients can have symptoms, which mimic a heart attack. Laboratory tests often show signs of a small heart attack. However, on coronary angiography, which is a test to look for blockages in the arteries, there’s often no significant coronary disease. There’s no significant blockage.

The nice thing about this condition is that in general the prognosis is very good. Patients who have stress cardiomyopathy see very significant improvement in heart function over a period of days to weeks.

This condition really highlights the adverse effects that stress can have on heart and I think makes it important for us as clinicians to emphasize to patients the importance of stress management.

About Dr. Andrew D. Atiemo, M.D., F.A.C.C.:
Dr. Atiemo is a cardiologist on staff at Banner Thunderbird Medical Center in Glendale, AZ. After completing his medical education at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Atiemo trained in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a Harvard teaching hospital. His passion for cardiology lead him to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland where he trained in general cardiology and interventional cardiology.

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Tags:

• Cardiomyopathy
• Heart & Blood