Anger has been blamed for everything from
high blood pressure to road rage. Now, a new study links
it to something else -- injuries in men.
Researchers who interviewed emergency-room patients found
that men were more likely to report being mad or furious
at the time of their injuries than during an ordinary
day.
The findings may seem obvious: Why wouldn't angry people
be more likely to get hurt? But previous research into
the anger effect has been contradictory, and doctors have
had a hard time figuring out how to find the truth, said
study co-author Dr. Daniel C. Vinson, a professor of family
medicine at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
"You're not going to take a bunch of young adults,
make half of them really mad, and put them on the interstate
to see who has a wreck," Vinson said.
So Vinson and a colleague decided to ask injured patients
themselves about their experiences. They surveyed 2,517
emergency-room patients in Missouri about their state
of mind before they were injured; 2,446 responded with
thoughts about their anger level just before their injury,
and 2,117 told how they felt 24 hours before being injured.
The researchers also randomly surveyed 1,856 uninjured
Missouri residents about their anger levels during a regular
day and got full answers from 1,533 of them.
The findings appear in the January/February issue of
the Annals of Family Medicine.
Nearly one-third of the injured people surveyed said
they were irritable just before their injuries. Eighteen
percent said they were angry, and 13.2 percent described
themselves as hostile.
Some of these numbers were similar to those who weren't
injured. But the injured people were more likely to express
higher levels of anger, especially men and those who were
injured by another person, the study found.
"The association between anger and injury was much
stronger in men than women," Vinson said. "Men
may get more angry, may act on their anger, or they may
get distracted by their anger."
Surprisingly, the researchers didn't find a link between
anger and car accidents.
Vinson cautioned that, due to the design of the study,
it's impossible to know how many injuries were directly
caused by anger.
Still, one anger specialist said the findings are important.
"They add significantly to our growing body of work
that emotional stress, whether it be anger or grief or
fear, has a profound effect on the body," said Dr.
Hunter Champion, an assistant professor of medicine at
Johns Hopkins University and its Heart Institute.
Last year, he co-authored a study about how stressful
events can cause a heart-attack-like condition that doesn't
cause permanent damage.
So, what to make of the new findings?
"When one begins to feel angry in some sort of situation,
whether in interpersonal relationships or just because
of what's going on in your own mind, it's wise to take
a step back and move out of the situation that's escalating,"
Vinson said. "Slow down and back off so you might
be able to avoid injury."
Champion agreed. "The old stress-relieving mechanisms
are all in play. Stop, count to 10 before you rush off
and do something rash."
