If you suffer from heart disease it obviously adds a degree of stress and worry to your life, but although it's understandable (and all-to-common) you still want to look at ways to keep your anxiety levels as low as possible. A new study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology shows that high levels of chronic anxiety can increase the risk of heart attack and death for patients with heart disease.

Further research is needed to pinpoint exactly how and why this happens, and separate out other factors that may also contribute. But the results make sense considering stress has been shown to harm cardiovascular health, and anxiety is a form of stress. For help on reducing your anxiety and stress levels, try this post from earlier this year, and this article on anxiety in women.

New guidelines for emergency medical technicians on when to cease resuscitation of heart attack victims could spare many families added grief and expense, according to a recent New England Journal of Medicine report. The new guidelines would not apply to EMTs with advanced life-saving training or to paramedics.

Two-thirds of all cardiac arrest victims die on the scene, but are usually transported to the hospital in an effort to save them anyway. Only one in 500 patients survived a heart attack once taken to the hospital for resuscitation, reports statistics from the University of Toronto. New guidelines would decrease the amount of patients transported to emergency rooms by EMTs from 100 percent to 37.4 percent.

One theory is that families of victims would experience more emotional closure if an unsuccessful resuscitation was fully observed -- confidant that everything that could be done was done -- and that they would be saved the distress of an agonizing half-hour in a hospital waiting room wondering if the patient would survive.

A new British study examines stress levels in soccer fans, finding the sporting fervor to lead to anxiety, panic and heart attacks. Researchers monitor heart rates of fans during the World Cup game, taken every five seconds and then averaged over a minute using a computer. Normal heart rate is around 70, but at the game, some fanatics heart rates rise as high as 95 to 100. In addition, researchers take saliva samples prior to kick-off, at half-time and at the end of the game. Fans produce half as much saliva as usual, dry mouth indicating a rise in stress levels. The level of cortisol, a stress hormone related to adrenaline was also measured. Though beer may affect the quality of the saliva samples, "we couldn't say you couldn't drink alcohol because these guys wouldn't come!" said a researcher.

In the big book of personality types, Type D is voted most likely to have a heart attack. Type D people tend to experience chronic negative feelings, stifle their expressiveness, and fear or avoid rejection from others. According to Belgian and Dutch researchers, Type D coupled with coronary heart disease results in a 3 times higher risk of requiring heart surgery or dying from the disease. 

Type D patients are less likely to report stress-related health problems due to a tendency to hide their true feelings, finding many social interactions too stressful to deal with. While stress inevitably contributes to aggravation of heart conditions, in this case it poses slightly less risk of a major cardiac event than actually having a Type D personality. Other predictors of heart attack include  reduced pumping ability of the heart and not having coronary bypass surgery. The study concludes that new treatments may be developed for high-risk patients if factors other than stress, such as Type D personality, are taken into account.