Mental stress reduces blood flow to the heart in patients with gene...(onal Heart Lung and Blood Institute and ...)

Why does mental stress restrict blood flow in some patients even when exercise fails to have the same effect? The effects of mental stress could predominantly affect the hearts smaller vessels, causing them to spasm and temporarily limiting blood flow, Sheps speculated. In contrast, exercise tends to affect the heart's blood supply through different mechanisms.

We should focus our research on two areas, he said. One is better identification of patients who are prone to have this problem and two is looking for effective treatments once we know they have it. We need to know whether we can reverse this phenomenon. We are embarking on other treatment studies fairly soon.

UF researchers are hunting for other genetic subtypes that could identify other patients at increased risk, he added.

One of the advantages of detecting these sorts of things is that we may be able to in the future be more specific about what kind of treatment might work better in certain patients depending on their genetic makeup, Sheps said. That is one of the important things happening in many fields of medicine. There are many diseases that already have been shown to respond differently to different types of treatment based on genetic differences.

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