The way women with heart disease respond to psychological stress puts them at increased risk for heart attacks and other cardiovascular events, yet the same doesn’t appear to be true for men, according to preliminary research to be presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2019—November 16-18 in Philadelphia. The Association’s Scientific Sessions is an annual, premier global exchange of the latest advances in cardiovascular science for researchers and clinicians.

Stress is known to increase inflammation throughout the body, which may contribute to heart disease risk, as well as heart attacks and other major cardiovascular events.

Researchers measured changes in inflammatory biomarkers in blood that are associated with stress in 615 men and women (average age of 63, 25% women) with stable heart disease before and after a psychologically stressful activity. To induce stress, participants were given a short speech test including two minutes of preparation time and three minutes of speaking.

The known inflammatory biomarkers interleukin-6 (IL-6), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and matrix metallopeptidase-9 (MMP-9) were measured in participants while they were at rest before the speech and then again 90 minutes after their speech to give the body time to produce and release inflammatory molecules into the circulatory system.