Stress and Coronary Heart Disease

There has been a rapid increase in the rates of illness and death due to coronary heart disease in most Western countries. Several factors such as a diet rich in fat, hypertension, age, male sex, increased serum cholesterol, cigarette smoking and a sedentary life have been associated with coronary heart disease. The evidence relating psycho-social stress to coronary heart disease is briefly reviewed. It seems likely that long-term behavioural arousal, associated with aggressive competition between men, and a sense of urgency interact with other factors such as diet and cigarette smoking to produce the various manifestations of coronary heart disease, but the physiological mechanisms are uncertain.