The researchers, from the University of Tsukuba in Ibaraki-ken, say that previous studies on mental stress and death from stroke and heart disease have focused largely on Caucasian men and women.

Dr Hiroyaso Iso and colleagues analyzed data from 30,180 men and 43,244 women between the ages of 40 and 79.

The subjects were asked to assess the level of stress they experienced in their daily lives and were followed up for eight years. Of the group, 8,656 women and 6,891 men reported “high mental stress”.

Those describing high stress tended to be five years younger than the average age of other subjects, were more educated, led more sedentary lives, had lower mean values of body mass index and were more likely than their less stressed-out peers to have a history of hypertension or diabetes.

In addition, they tended to smoke more and work full-time. They also reported higher rates of anger, feelings of hopelessness and lack of fulfillment.

During the course of the study there were 778 cardiovascular deaths among men and 643 among women.

After adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors and psychological variables, women in the high stress group had a 2.24 times greater risk for stroke, a 2.28 higher risk for coronary heart disease and 1.64 times the risk of any cardiovascular death.

Men reporting medium or high mental stress had a 1.74 times greater risk of heart attack after adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors.

Reference: Iso et al, Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association;106:1229-1236

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