Chronic stress may trigger hidden inflammation that damages the heart

edited by Gaby Clark , reviewed by Andrew Zinin

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Add as preferred source Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Chronic stress from people's everyday lives may be causing lasting structural changes to the heart, harming health and reducing life expectancy.

The findings, published in European Journal of Preventive Cardiology , come from a study of almost half a million adults in the UK, believed to be the largest of its kind, led by researchers at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) and Imperial College London.

It finds that chronic inflammation, associated with people's socioeconomic situation and lifestyles, is linked to damaging structural changes in the heart, as well as a higher risk of heart attacks and stroke.