Rants can increase risk of heart attacks

BLOWING your top Malcolm Tucker-style can dramatically increase the risk of a heart attack, a study has found.

An episode of intense anger was found to raise the chances of an attack more than eight-fold in the two hours afterwards.

The research adds to previous evidence from studies and anecdotal reports that anger can act as a heart attack trigger.

Tucker, the government spin doctor portrayed by Peter Capaldi in the hit BBC TV comedy The Thick of It, is famous for his explosive angry rants.

But in no episode did his short fuse appear to affect his health. Real-life Tuckers might be well-advised to keep a lid on their temper, the research suggests.

Study leader Dr Thomas Buckley, from the University of Sydney, Australia, said: “While the absolute risk of any one anger episode trig- gering a heart attack is low, our data demonstrates that the danger is real and still there.” The research focused on 313 heart attack patients admitted to the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney between 2006 and 2012 who were questioned about their emotional state in the 48 hours before they fell ill.

A seven-point scale was used to assess anger levels ranging from “calm” to “enraged, out of control, throwing objects, hurting yourself or others”.

The threshold of acute anger was defined by a score of five, “very angry, body tense, maybe fists clenched, ready to burst”.

Analysis showed that seven of the patients had reached at least this anger level within the two hour period preceding the onset of their symptoms.

One par ticipant had reached anger level five within four hours of having a heart attack.