Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, researchers asked 2,700 American adults to complete an online survey of physical and mental health. People who had high levels of stress immediately after the attacks were nearly twice as likely to develop high blood pressure and more than three times as likely to develop heart problems during the following two years compared with those who had low stress levels.
Earthquakes also trigger stress-related heart problems -- not just in their immediate wake but for years afterward, some research has shown. Sudden cardiac deaths rose sharply immediately after the 1994 earthquake in the Los Angeles area, and hospitalization for heart attacks jumped on the day of the 1995 temblor near Kobe, Japan. A longer-term follow-up of another major earthquake in Japan (Niigata-Chuetsu in 2004) revealed that death rates from heart attacks rose during the three years after the quake compared with rates during the five years prior to the disaster. The property damage, loss of livelihood, social disruption, and other stressful events resulting from the quakes probably explain this trend, say the study authors, who published their findings in the journal Heart.
Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, researchers
asked 2,700 American adults to complete an online survey of
physical and mental health. People who had high levels of stress
immediately after the attacks were nearly twice as...
More
Dr. Anthony Komaroff answered:Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, researchers asked 2,700 American adults to complete an online survey of physical and mental health. People who had high levels of stress immediately after the attacks were nearly twice as likely to develop high blood pressure and more than three times as likely to develop heart problems during the following two years compared with those who had low stress levels.
