In what may prove to be good news for husbands and boyfriends everywhere, a new United States study finds that some women who make a habit of openly expressing their anger may be more likely to develop heart problems.

The women may be compelled to keep a cool head, as openly expressing their anger, the study shows, may contribute to them developing blockages in the arteries of the heart.

Several past studies linked anger and hostility to a greater risk of heart disease, but most of those studies focused on men.

These latest findings, published in the Journal of Women's Health, suggest that there is a link between anger and heart health in women. The relationship, however, is complicated.

The researchers found that women who continuously expressed their anger openly had a higher risk of artery blockages if they also had one of several other heart risk factors: older age, diabetes or high cholesterol.

Other measures of hostility, like suppressed anger and having a generally hostile temperament, were found to be unrelated to the risk of coronary artery disease.

Hostile temperament

It is possible that openly expressed anger was the most toxic aspect of a hostile temperament, according to the study authors, led by Dr. David S. Krantz of the Uniformed Services University of Health Science in Bethesda, Maryland.

The results are based on 636 women taking part in the government-funded Women's Ischaemia Syndrome Evaluation study, an investigation aimed at improving heart disease diagnosis in women.

All of the study participants had chest pain or other potential symptoms of coronary artery disease, and underwent angiography to look for blockages in the heart arteries.

The women also completed standard measures of anger and hostility. The questionnaires gauged whether a woman had an angry or hostile temperament, and how she dealt with it, whether outwardly expressing it or keeping it inside.

Only expressed anger was linked to the risk of showing objective artery blockages on an angiogram.