Blood test spots stress damage

London: A blood test that detects stress and shows when it is damaging the heart has been developed by scientists.

Many studies have concluded that stress and anxiety are bad for health, bringing greater risk of disease and early death. But there has never been a way to measure the impact clinically.

Now scientists in the United States have found that the level of the protein troponin rises in the blood when a person is dangerously stressed. Researchers say testing troponin levels could be a quick way of identifying people at risk of heart problems, even when they do not appear to have any other risk factors, such as high cholesterol. Patients could then be offered medication or therapy.

Dr Arshed Quyyumi, professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, the lead author of the study, said: “We’ve always believed stress can be harmful to cardiac health. We now show this harm is reflected by elevated levels of troponin in the circulation. For the first time doctors have a way to measure that impact with a high sensitive troponin test. “Because a higher circulating level of troponin is associated with worse long-term outcomes such as heart attack or even death, doctors may eventually use this information to prevent complications from developing.”

Troponin is a protein released in large amounts when the heart is damaged, and its presence is used as a test for determining if someone has had a heart attack. The more damage there is to the heart, the greater the amount of troponin will be in the blood. But the new study shows troponin levels are already rising before heart problems have begun and are directly linked to rising stress levels.

To test the link, scientists evaluated 587 patients with heart problems who were asked to take part in mental and physical stress tests. The mental health test involved speaking in public, while the physical test involved exercising. One third of patients suffered an inadequate flow of oxygen to the heart when stressed that could be identified through elevated levels of troponin. Dr Agim Beshiri of the diagnostics company Abbott, which provides troponin testing for the NHS, said: “By using Abbott’s troponin test, doctors may have objective information to prevent or treat cardiac issues that could result from stress.”