Young women after MI have a 2-fold likelihood of developing MSIMI compared with men and a similar increase in conventional stress ischemia. Microvascular dysfunction and peripheral vasoconstriction with mental stress are implicated in MSIMI among women but not among men, perhaps reflecting women's proclivity toward ischemia because of microcirculatory abnormalities.

Objectives Emotional stress may disproportionally affect young women with ischemic heart disease. We sought to examine whether mental stress-induced myocardial ischemia (MSIMI), but not exercise-induced ischemia, is more common in young women with previous myocardial infarction (MI) than men. Methods We studied 98 post-MI patients (49 women and 49 men) aged 38-60 years. Women and men were matched for age, MI type, and months since MI. Patients underwent [99mTc]sestamibi perfusion imaging at rest, after mental stress, and after exercise/pharmacological stress. Perfusion defect scores were obtained with observer-independent software. A summed difference score (SDS), the difference between stress and rest scores, was used to quantify ischemia under both stress conditions. Results Women aged 50 or younger, but not older women, showed a more adverse psychosocial profile than age-matched men, but did not differ for conventional risk factors and tended to have less angiographic coronary artery disease (CAD). Compared with age-matched men, women aged 50 or younger exhibited a higher SDS with mental stress (3.1 vs. 1.5, p=0.029) and had twice the rate of MSIMI (SDS ≥3), 52% vs. 25%, while ischemia with physical stress did not differ (36% vs 25%). In older patients there were no sex differences in MSIMI. The higher prevalence of MSIMI in young women persisted when adjusting for sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, CAD severity and depression. Conclusions MSIMI post-MI is more common in women aged 50 or younger compared to age-matched men. These sex differences are not observed in post-MI patients who are older than 50 years.

Aims Mental stress-induced myocardial ischemia (MSIMI) in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) is associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes. We aim to assess hemodynamic, neuro-hormonal, endothelial, vasomotor and vascular predictors of MSIMI. Methods and Results We subjected 660 patients with stable CAD to 99mTc sestamibi myocardial perfusion imaging at rest, with mental (speech task) and with conventional (exercise/pharmacological) stress. Endothelium-dependent flow-mediated dilation (FMD), microvascular reactivity [reactive hyperemia index (RHI)] and arterial stiffness [pulse wave velocity (PWV)] were measured at rest and 30-min after mental stress. The digital microvascular vasomotor response during mental stress was assessed using peripheral arterial tonometry (PAT). A total of 106(16.1%) patients had MSIMI. Mental stress was accompanied by significant increases in rate-pressure-product (heart rate x systolic blood pressure; RPP), epinephrine levels and PWV, and significant decreases in FMD and PAT ratio denoting microvascular constriction. In comparison to those with no MSIMI, patients with MSIMI had higher hemodynamic and digital vasoconstrictive responses (p<0.05 for both), but did not differ in epinephrine, endothelial or macrovascular responses. Only presence of ischemia during conventional stress (OR of 7.1, 95%CI of 4.2, 11.9), high hemodynamic response (OR for RPP response ≥ vs < ROC cutoff of 1.8, 95%CI of 1.1, 2.8), and high digital vasoconstriction (OR for PAT ratio < vs ≥ ROC cutoff of 2.1, 95%CI of 1.3, 3.3) were independent predictors of MSIMI. Conclusion Ischemia during conventional stress testing and hemodynamic and vasoconstrictive responses to mental stress can help predict subjects with CAD at greater risk of developing MSIMI.

BackgroundEmerging data suggest that young women with coronary heart disease (CHD) are disproportionally vulnerable to the adverse cardiovascular effects of psychological stress. We hypothesized that younger, but not older, women with stable CHD are more likely than their male peers to develop mental stress‐induced myocardial ischemia (MSIMI).Methods and ResultsWe studied 686 patients (191 women) with stable coronary heart disease (CHD). Patients underwent 99mTc‐sestamibi myocardial perfusion imaging at rest and with both mental (speech task) and conventional (exercise/pharmacological) stress testing. We compared quantitative (by automated software) and visual parameters of inducible ischemia between women and men and assessed age as an effect modifier. Women had a more‐adverse psychosocial profile than men whereas there were few differences in medical history and CHD risk factors. Both quantitative and visual indicators of ischemia with mental stress were disproportionally larger in younger women. For each 10 years of decreasing age, the total reversibility severity score with mental stress was 9.6 incremental points higher (interaction, P<0.001) and the incidence of MSIMI was 82.6% higher (interaction, P=0.004) in women than in men. Incidence of MSIMI in women ≤50 years was almost 4‐fold higher than in men of similar age and older patients. These results persisted when adjusting for sociodemographic and medical risk factors, psychosocial factors, and medications. There were no significant sex differences in inducible ischemia with conventional stress.ConclusionsYoung women with stable CHD are susceptible to MSIMI, which could play a role in the prognosis of this group.

BackgroundYoung women with coronary heart disease have high rates of depression and a higher risk of adverse events than men of similar age. Whether depression has a higher prognostic value in this group than in men and older women is not known. Our objective was to assess whether depression in young women is associated with higher risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) and adverse outcomes compared with similarly aged men and older women.Methods and ResultsWe examined 3237 patients undergoing coronary angiography for evaluation of CAD and followed them for 2.9 years (median). Depressive symptoms were assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)‐9, and CAD burden was dichotomized based on its presence or absence. After multivariable adjustment for CAD risk factors, depressive symptoms predicted CAD presence in women aged ≤55 years (odds ratio=1.07 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.02 to 1.13 per 1 point increase in PHQ‐9 score), but not in men aged ≤55 years or women aged >55 years. Depressive symptoms also predicted increased risk of death in women aged ≤55 years (adjusted hazard ratio=1.07, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.14, per 1 point increase in PHQ‐9 score), but not in men aged ≤55 years and women aged >55 years, with P=0.02 for the depression‐sex interaction and P=0.02 for depression‐sex‐age interaction.ConclusionsAmong patients with suspected or established CAD, depressive symptoms are associated with increased risk of death, particularly in young women. This group may be especially vulnerable to the adverse cardiovascular effects of depression.

Women and men have distinct cardiovascular reactivity mechanisms for MSIMI. For women, stress-induced peripheral vasoconstriction with mental stress, and not increased hemodynamic workload, is associated with MSIMI, whereas for men, it is the opposite. Future studies should examine these pathways on long-term outcomes.

Background Higher symptom levels of a variety of measures of emotional distress have been associated with cardiovascular disease ( CVD ), especially among women. Here, our goal was to investigate the association between a composite measure of psychological distress and incident cardiovascular events. Methods and Results In a prospective cohort study, we assessed 662 individuals (28% women; 30% blacks) with stable coronary artery disease. We used a composite score of psychological distress derived through summation of Z‐transformed psychological distress symptom scales (depression, posttraumatic stress, anxiety, anger, hostility, and perceived stress) as a predictor of an adjudicated composite end point of adverse events (cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure, or unstable angina). During a mean follow‐up of 2.8 years, 120 (18%) subjects developed CVD events. In the overall population, there was no association between the psychological distress measure and CVD events, but there was a sex‐based interaction ( P =0.004). In women, higher psychological distress was associated with a higher incidence of CVD events; each SD increase in the composite score of psychological distress was associated with 1.44 times adjusted hazard of CVD events (95% CI, 1.09–1.92). No such association was found in men. Conclusions Among patients with coronary artery disease, higher psychological distress is associated with future cardiovascular events in women only.

Rationale Leucocyte telomere length (LTL) is a biological marker of aging, and shorter LTL is associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes. Reduced regenerative capacity has been proposed as a mechanism. Bone marrow-derived circulating progenitor cells (PCs) are involved in tissue repair and regeneration. Objective To examine the relationship between LTL and PCs, and their impact on adverse cardiovascular outcomes. Methods and Results We measured LTL by quantitative PCR in 566 outpatients (age 63±9 years, 76% male) with coronary artery disease (CAD). Circulating PCs were enumerated by flow cytometry. After adjustment for age, gender, race, BMI, smoking and previous myocardial infarction, a shorter LTL was associated with a lower CD34+ cell count: for each 10% shorter LTL, CD34+ levels were 5.2% lower (p<0.001). After adjustment for the aforementioned factors, both short LTL (