Study Shows Link Between Stress Gene And Heart Attack

Study Shows Link Between Stress Gene And Heart Attack

A new study shows that the gene that makes some people more responsive to mental and emotional stress also makes them more prone to heart disease or to suffer a heart attack. Determining if someone carries this gene can help pharmacists, researchers and doctors create better medicine that can give a more personalized treatment, one comparable to that provided by cancer medication.

The team based their research on a DNA strand that shows the formation of the serotonin receptor, a gene that can cause people to have a more pronounced reaction to stress. Another study showed that men who had the genetic variant had a doubled cortisol level in their blood when they were under stress compared to men who didn’t have the genetic variant.

The quoted study shows that people with the genetic variant were 38 percent more likely to die from a heart attack compared to people without it. From the total number of people that participated in the study 13 percent had the variation.

Cortisol is an important part of how we deal with stress but can bring complications for the reproductive and immune system as well as affect out metabolism, blood sugar and insulin if kept at high levels for long times.

Posted by George Daniels on Friday December 20 2013, 4:28 AM EST. Ref: forbes. Link. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0