According to a new study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, anxiety in midlife is tied to factors that heighten the risk for developing heart disease and diabetes later.

The study looked at data from 1,561 men who were patients in the VA Boston outpatient clinic and enroled in the Normative Aging Study. At the time of enrolment in 1975, the men were aged between 33 and 84 years (average age 53 years), and did not have heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, or cancer.

Among healthy middle-aged men who did not have heart disease or diabetes (cardiometabolic disease), those with anxiety had a higher likelihood of having risk factors that are linked with higher cardiometabolic disease risk as they age. Participants with high levels of neuroticism or worry in midlife had higher odds of having a high cardiometabolic risk, characterized by having at least 6 of the following: systolic blood pressure > 130 mmHg; diastolic blood pressure > 85 mmHg; total cholesterol > 240 mg/dL; triglycerides > 150 mg/dL; body mass index > 30 kg/m2; glucose > 100 mg/dL; and erythrocyte sedimentation rate > 14 mm/hour… (WebMD)