Women With Phobias Should Fear Heart Disease

Women who fear heights, crowds or public places now have something more to worry about.

Boston researchers say women with phobic anxieties are more likely to die of heart disease than phobia-free women.

Previous studies on men found similar findings but no study had looked at women, said the study’s lead author, Dr. Christine Albert, a cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

“The study found that women who scored higher on a scale which measures symptoms of phobic anxiety were more likely to suffer sudden cardiac deaths or to die from coronary heart disease than women who scored lower on the scale,” Albert said.

Researchers found that women with high levels of anxiety had a 59 percent increased risk of sudden cardiac death and a 31 percent increased risk of fatal coronary heart disease.

Women who have phobias are more likely to have diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, be overweight and less physically active, researchers said.

The findings appear in yesterday’s issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.