Anxious people have higher heart risk - study

WASHINGTON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Heart attacks may not be reserved for the hostile and driven among us -- anxious, fearful people also have a higher risk, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.

They found men who scored the highest on tests of anxiety were 30 to 40 percent more likely than the others to have a heart attack.

The findings held even when standard heart risks such as diet and smoking were factored in, psychologist Biing-Jiun Shen and colleagues at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles reported.

"What we're seeing is over and beyond what can be explained by blood pressure, obesity, cholesterol, age, cigarette smoking, blood sugar levels and other cardiovascular risk factors," Shen said in a statement.

"Older men with sustained and pervasive anxiety appear to be at increased risk for a heart attack even after their levels of depression, anger, hostility and Type A behavior are considered."

So-called Type A personalities include people who are ambitious, assertive and often those who are hostile as well.

Writing in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Shen and colleagues said they analyzed data from a study of 735 men. They took psychological tests in 1986, when they were still in good health, and then followed for 12 years.

Those who scored in the top 15 percentile for anxiety were more likely to suffer heart attacks later, the researchers found.