A new study published in the American Journal of Cardiology suggests women aged 45 and older who experienced traumatic life events could have a 37 percent increased chance of atrial fibrillation (AFib).
“Negative emotions have been linked to the development of AFib, and positive effect may be protective,” wrote lead author Michelle A. Albert, MD, MPH, of the University of California, San Francisco and authors. “However, there are few large-scale studies examining the association between psychosocial stressors that may provoke these emotions and the occurrence of AFib.”
The researchers assessed the relationship between psychosocial stress and AFib among more than 24,800 women who were participants of the Women’s Health Study—a randomized controlled clinical trial of aspirin and Vitamin E in the primary prevention of cancer and cardiovascular disease (CVD).
Albert and colleagues followed up with the women annually using mailed questionnaires to update demographic and clinical data. The questionnaire also contained questions regarding acute and chronic stressors, and lifetimes stressors using psychometric scales adapted from the Chicago Community Health and Aging and the Americans Changing Lives studies.
Stressors were identified as work, work-family spillover, financial, traumatic life events, intimate partner, neighborhood, negative life events within five years, and cumulative (a weighted measure of all other stresses).
Medical records or next of kin were used to confirm AFib instances. The prevalence of AFib among the cohort was almost 4 percent. However, the risk factor profiles deferred by AFib status. They found:
- Women who reported exhibiting AFib had higher financial stress, traumatic life event stress, and neighborhood stress (neighborhood safety).
- Women who experienced traumatic life events had a 37 percent increase in chance of AFib, even after adjustment of cardiovascular risk factors, socioeconomic and psychosocial status.
The authors noted mechanistically, psychosocial stress may lead to sustained increases in hormonal dysregulation and inflammation that may lead to AFib development.
“These data indicate a potential relationship between traumatic life events and AFib in older women,” the researchers wrote. “Further investigation is necessary to confirm whether or not this association is longitudinal. If prospective work establishes an association between AFib and traumatic life events, evaluation of stress relieving interventions once an event has occurred is warranted because the impact of the event on health outcomes such as AFib might be modifiable although the event itself is typically unmodifiable.”
As a senior news writer for TriMed, Subrata covers cardiology, clinical innovation and healthcare business. She has a master’s degree in communication management and 12 years of experience in journalism and public relations.