Blood flow slows down when anxiety accelerates
The flow of blood slows down when people are stressed or frightened, according to a study by a team of medical scientists at the University of Bonn, in Germany. The team found that this puts people suffering from acute anxiety disorders at greater risk of developing blood clots, which could lead to thrombosis or heart attacks. It is not just a select few that suffer from anxiety. At some time or another, everyone has to cope with stressful situations, such as securing a new job, buying a home or passing a school exam. However, for some people, even the most normal everyday situations can leave them paralysed with fear. Increasing physiological arousal and fear are linked to a variety of somatic and cognitive symptoms, including breaking out in a cold sweat, breathing with difficulty and fainting. In their study, researchers from the University of Bonn's Clinic and Policlinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy and the Institute of Experimental Haematology and Transfusion Medicine compared 31 patients suffering from severe forms of panic disorder or social phobia with a healthy control group. So as to ensure that a variety of factors did not influence the results, the researchers matched each patient with an anxiety disorder with a corresponding healthy patient of the same age and sex. The researchers took blood samples and asked the volunteers to perform a series of computer tests. This was followed by a second blood sample. The blood analysis showed that the patients suffering from anxiety had a more highly activated coagulation system compared to the healthy volunteers. Our body's coagulation system consists of two mechanisms that counterbalance one another and are crucial for keeping us alive. During coagulation, blood thickens so that excessive bleeding from damaged vessels does not occur. At the same time, the blood remains fluid through a process called fibrinolysis, which breaks down any clots that have occurred during the thickening stage. The researchers found that while the thickening process of coagulation was activated for patients with anxiety, fibrinolysis was inhibited. A breakdown in the equilibrium of the coagulation system can result in clotting and coronary artery blockages. Heightened coagulation could therefore be the 'missing link' to explain why patients with anxiety disorders have a statistically higher risk of dying from heart disease, explains Dr Franziska Geiser of the University of Bonn, who led the study. 'Of course, this doesn't mean that every patient with a marked anxiety disorder must now worry about having a heart attack,' she stresses. 'The coagulation values we measured were always within the physiological scale, which means there is no acute danger.' But more could be done, believes Dr Geiser, to ensure the early diagnosis of anxiety disorders to reduce the risk of heart disease 'After all, we have programmes to help the population give up smoking or take more exercise. But if we want to reduce the number of heart disorders, it would make sense to improve the way anxiety disorders are diagnosed and treated,' she says. While studies about how anxiety and stress affect coagulation have emerged in the past, this is the first time that coagulation in patients with anxiety disorders has been assessed.
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