Chronic anxiety doesn’t just turn people’s lives upside down; it also can erode their heart health over time.

Anxiety -- along with depressed mood -- is one of two primary components of stress, a known contributor to cardiovascular disease. The Duke Heart–Mind Center is the country’s first dedicated program to study the link between emotional and cardiovascular health.

Led by Duke psychiatrist Ranga Krishnan, MB ChB, dean of the Duke–NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore, Duke Heart Center director Christopher O’Connor, MD, and Duke professor of medical psychology James Blumenthal, PhD, the center is pursuing a variety of clinical trials, including:

• REMIT, which is assessing the impact of the drug escitalopram on stress-related myocardial ischemia.
• COPE-HF, which is comparing the impact of coping-skills training with standard medical care in outpatients treated for heart failure.
• ENHANCED, which is using the Duke-developed “mental stress test” to examine the effects of stress-management strategies and exercise on cardiovascular biomarkers. During the test, participants perform stress-evoking tasks while clinicians monitor their heart rate and blood pressure and use echocardiography to detect myocardial ischemia.
• UPBEAT, which is studying the benefits of exercise and anti-depressant medication in cardiac patients with symptoms of depression.
• INSPIRE, which is a telephone-based coping skills intervention for patients with CoPD.

To learn more, call Jennifer Wilson at 919-681-4367.