It has been known for a long time that stress can have a negative impact on our health, and the more and longer you are stressed, the more damage is done. There has now been a test developed which can measure the amount of damage that stress has done to our bodies.
Taking a blood sample and testing it for levels of troponin, a complex of three regulatory proteins that are used in cardiac muscle contraction, can apparently help to test how stressed a person is.
The level of troponin rises when a person is under dangerous amounts of stress.
Troponin is released when the heart is damaged, and has been linked with heart attacks in the past, with high levels of troponin being present after a heart attack.
However, this new look at the levels of protein in circulation indicate that levels rise before the patient
If someone were to be given the test, and they are found to have high levels of this protein, then doctors can take immediate action, by offering the patient either medication or therapy.
The test gives the possibility to prevent the most major effects that stress can have, such as cardiac arrest.
Professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, Dr Arshed Quyyumi, 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.”
He added: “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.”
