Joe Schwarcz PhD| February 20, 2017
In fact, the risk of heart attack or angina is almost five times higher in the two hours after an angry outburst than at any other time, and the risk of stroke is four times higher. However, let's not get carried away with this, because at any time the risk of a heart attack or stroke is very low, so even a fivefold increase in risk is not so great. To put the numbers in perspective, researchers estimate that if 10,000 healthy people have one angry outburst per month for a year, one of them will have a heart attack or stroke as a result of the outburst. Among people who have other risk factors such as smoking, obesity, high blood pressure or high cholesterol, four cardiovascular events will occur during a year with a monthly outbreak. But among people who get angry more often, which is not an uncommon scenario, the risk increases significantly. For example, if 10,000 people who also have other risk factors have five angry outbursts a day, about 600 of them will have a heart attack or stroke.
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