The number of heart attacks rose in the two months following September 11. Researchers believe that the psychological stress of the event triggered the rise in cardiac events.
By
William Whitney, published on November 14, 2003 - last reviewed on June 30, 2005
A study of more than 800 patients at a Brooklyn hospital
found that the incidence of heart attacks increased by 35 percent in the
two months following September 11, 2001. The study authors believe that
the psychological stress of the event triggered the rise in cardiac
events.
On the day after the attacks Jiangwei Feng, then a resident at New
York Methodist hospital in Brooklyn, treated a man complaining of chest
pain and shortness of breath. The man had been less than a block away
from the towers when the terrorist attack occurred and although he was
not initially affected, his symptoms developed as he watched the tragedy
unfold on TV.
Prompted by this experience, Feng and his team compared the records
of patients evaluated for possible heart problems in the 60 days
following the attacks. When they compared those results with records of
patients evaluated in the 60 days preceding the attacks, they found a
clear difference. The patients admitted after the attacks were 35 percent
more likely to have had a heart attack and 40 percent more likely to have
had a heart arrhythmia.
Heart attacks and other cardiac events are linked to stress
hormones known as catecholamines. "Anytime a person experiences
psychological or emotional stress, catecholamine levels rise, which
increases heart rate and blood pressure," Feng says.
The patients with unstable angina -- acute chest pain -- decreased
following September 11. Feng suspects that this may be because "more
patients with unstable angina progressed to acute heart attacks and acute
cardiac arrhythmias."
A study from 2002 supports these findings. Researchers at another
New York hospital found that the rate of serious heart problems doubled
in the 30 days following September 11. The study was reported at the
American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions.
Tags:
9/11,
acute chest pain,
acute heart attacks,
american heart association,
brooklyn hospital,
Cardiac,
cardiac arrhythmias,
cardiac events,
catecholamines,
chest pain and shortness of breath,
emotional stress,
heart,
heart arrhythmia,
heart problems,
hospital in brooklyn,
methodist hospital in brooklyn,
new york methodist hospital,
psychological stress,
september 11 2001,
shortness of breath,
stress,
study authors,
terrorism,
unstable angina
