Jonkoping university, University in Jönköping, Sweden

London, Feb 11 Taking stress may be not be good for your heart as a new study suggests that long-term stress may lead to increased risk of heart attack.The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, indicated that people with higher levels of cortisol are at an increased risk of heart attack."The levels of the stress hormone cortisol differed between people who have had a heart attack and those not affected. This suggests that cortisol in hair may be a new risk marker for heart attacks," said Tomas Faresjo from the Linkoping University in Sweden.Cortisol is a steroid hormone that regulates a wide range of processes throughout the body, including metabolism and the immune response. It also has a very important role in helping the body respond to stress.To study the long-term stress due to a lack of reliable methods, the team improved the use of a new biomarker, in which they measure the levels of the stress hormone cortisol in hair.This enables measurements of cortisol levels backwards in time, similar to the growth rings in a tree. This analysis method is at the moment only available in research settings.In the present study, the researchers used hair samples of length between 1 and 3 centimetres, corresponding to 1-3 months of hair growth. They measured cortisol levels in hair samples from 174 men and women in professional life who had been admitted for myocardial infarction to cardiology clinics.As control group, the researchers used hair samples from more than 3,000 similarly aged participants in the Swedish SCAPIS study (Swedish CardioPulmonary bioImage Study).The researchers showed that patients who suffered a heart attack had statistically significant higher levels of cortisol during the month preceding the event."It's surprising that this biomarker for long-term stress seems to be strong even compared with traditional cardiovascular risk factors," said Tomas Faresjo.( With inputs from IANS )Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

Jonkoping UniversityFOLLOW

Jonkoping university, Latest News

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Prince Daniel Westling have tested positive for Covid-19, according to the Swedish Royal Court on Thursday. ...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday expressed solidarity with the people of Sweden in wake of the violent attacks that took place on Wednesday wherein as many as eight people were injured. ...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a virtual summit with his Sweden counterpart Stefan Lofven on Friday to hold discussions and exchange views on regional and global issues including further strengthening of cooperation in the post COVID era. ...

New Delhi, March 4 Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be holding ... ...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a virtual summit with his Sweden counterpart Stefan Lofven on Friday to exchange views on regional and global issues and to discuss the bilateral relations between the two countries. ...

London, Feb 17 Psychotherapy appears to be beneficial in the longer run for people suffering from panic disorder, a ... ...

According to the largest genetic study to date on patients with Addison's disease --variants of nine genes increase the risk of developing Addison's disease, a rare disease in which the immune system attacks the adrenal glands. ...

London, Feb 11 Taking stress may be not be good for your heart as a new study suggests ... ...