BOSTON -- A study in the Journal of American College of Cardiology says anger and stress lead to electrical failures in the heart.

Electrical abnormalities called arrhythmias cause the heart to pump sporadically and in some cases can lead to a heart attack.

“It’s an important study because we are beginning to understand how anger and other types of mental stress can trigger potentially lethal ventricular arrhythmias,” said Dr. Rachel Lampert, associate professor at Yale University School of Medicine.

The study looked at 62 people who needed the use of defibrillators to regulate their heart’s electrical functions. They were hooked up to a heart monitor and were asked to recall situations in which they felt angry. The individual’s electrical heart data was then recorded and the people were released.

“We’ve known that anger affects the heart for a while now, but the mechanisms were still not fully understood,” said Lampert.

Over a three-year period, individuals in the study were watched and their susceptibility to arrhythmias were recorded. What the study showed was that individuals who were more prone to anger easily also had a higher chance of having arrhythmias.

“This data suggest that therapies focused on helping patients deal with anger and other negative emotions may help reduce arrhythmias,” said Lampert.

Doctors have known for some time that anger and stress negatively impacted heart functions, but this is the first study to confirm that mental stress can predict arrhythmias and influence the heart electrically.

“We’ve known stress can increase adrenalin, constricts arteries, increases blood pressure and make blood platelets more sticky,” said Dr. Randall Zusman, director of the division of hypertension. “These symptoms decrease the amount of oxygen getting to the heart and can cause heart disease and ultimately a heart attack.”

To combat stress and anger-related arrhythmias and heart attacks, doctors will now be able to focus on prevention, drug therapies and treatments.

“The three-prong strategy has been highly effective in treating people susceptible to sudden cardiac arrest and deaths are down,” said Zusman.

Education on the prevention of high cholesterol and diabetes lowers risk. Drug therapies can help manage those who already have conditions that put them at risk for heart disease. Advancements in technology have allowed patients to live better lives with heart disease.

“Now that we know that anger also alters the electrical systems of the heart, we’ll be able to target people’s emotions as a possible therapeutic solution,” said Lampert.

Sudden cardiac arrest accounts for more than 400,000 deaths each year in the United States.