Heart Attacks

In 2000 an article in Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association, reported the results of a study held at the University of North Carolina (at Chapel Hill). The study found that highly anger-prone people are nearly three times more likely to have a heart attack. The connection between anger and heart attacks remained even after taking into account other major risk factors like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking and obesity.

Epidemiologist Janice Williams said, "The implications … are that anger could potentially lead to heart attacks, especially among middle-aged men and women with normal blood pressure."

The study supported previous research showing that stress hormones constrict blood vessels and may trigger an artery blockage.