A new study looked at the different physiological responses men and women have to mental stress.
The findings could help researchers determine the best treatments for both genders, especially when it comes to cardiovascular issues, the American College of Cardiology reported.
To make their findings researchers asked 56 women and 254 men diagnosed with heart disease enrolled in a larger study. The participants were given a mental arithmetic test, a mirror tracing test and an anger recall test followed by a treadmill exercise test. In between these tests the researchers performed echocardiography as well as blood and blood pressure tests on the patients to see how the activities affected their hearts.
The team found that while men had a more dramatic change in blood pressure in response to mental stress, women were more likely to experience myocardial ischemia, which is decreased blood flow to the heart. Women were also more likely to experience platelet aggregation, which can lead to blood clots. Female participants claimed to have stronger negative emotions and a larger decrease in positive emotions during times of mental stress when compared to men.
"The relationship between mental stress and cardiovascular disease is well known," said the study lead author Dr. Zainab Samad, assistant professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Center. "This study revealed that mental stress affects the cardiovascular health of men and women differently. We need to recognize this difference when evaluating and treating patients for cardiovascular disease."
Further studies will be needed in order to back up these gender differences in response to mental stress. The findings were published Oct. 13 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
"This study also underscores the inadequacy of available risk prediction tools, which currently fail to measure an entire facet of risk,[for example] the impact of negative physiological responses to psychological stress in both sexes, and especially so among women," Samad concluded.
