Matthew Burg, PhD
Research & Publications
Biography
News
Research Summary
The Role of Stress and Emotional Factors in Incident Cardiovascular Disease Risk, and the Use of Behavioral Interventions to Reduce Risk
Our interest in the role of stress and emotion (e.g., anger, depression), including post-traumatic stress, has taken two approaches. We have been exploring mental stress provoked myocardial ischemia and cardiac arrhythmia, documenting the phenomenon in naturalistic and laboratory settings. This work has allowed us to identify the anger and stress related behavioral and emotional characteristics of individuals at risk for these phenomena, as well as the three fold greater risk of acute coronary events for people who experience these phenomena. Additional work has served to distinguish this form of ischemia from exercise provoked ischemia, both with regard to hemodynamic, vascular, inflammatory, and behavioral characteristics. Ongoing research is focused on the role of central nervous system mediation of inflammatory pathways, both chronically and dynamically. In addition, the relative importance of vascular function and processes by which vascular function is dynamically altered (e.g., inflammatory processes, autonomic modulation) are being explored. We have also been documenting the effects of acute stress and emotions such as anger on pro-arrhythmic processes in patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) and with atrial fibrillation. Past and current behavioral clinical trials test the effects of behavioral and psychotherapy interventions on event free survival in these populations,and on populations with depression after acute coronary syndrome events.
A second focus of our work is on hypertension - in particular the risk of hypertension as a function of combat exposure and post-traumatic stress in young military veterans - and the importance of sleep in modulating dynamic arterial stiffness in the natural setting. We are leveraging emerging technologies for ecological assessment of daily experiences in concert with continuous assessment of physiological indices important to vascular regulation.
Specialized Terms: role of emotion and stress on coronary heart disease; ischemia
Coauthors
Research Interests
Anesthesiology; Anger; Coronary Disease; Emotions; Heart Diseases; Ischemia; Stress, Psychological
Selected Publications
- Risk for Incident Hypertension Associated With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Military Veterans and the Effect of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Treatment.Burg MM, Brandt C, Buta E, Schwartz J, Bathulapalli H, Dziura J, Edmondson DE, Haskell S. Risk for Incident Hypertension Associated With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Military Veterans and the Effect of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Treatment. Psychosomatic Medicine 2017, 79: 181-188. PMID: 27490852, PMCID: PMC5285494, DOI: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000376.
- Mental stress-induced myocardial ischemia: moving forward.Burg MM, Soufer R. Mental stress-induced myocardial ischemia: moving forward. Journal Of Nuclear Cardiology : Official Publication Of The American Society Of Nuclear Cardiology 2007, 14: 269-71. PMID: 17556157, DOI: 10.1016/j.nuclcard.2007.04.009.
- Ambulatory Medical Follow-Up in the Year After Surgery and Subsequent Survival in a National Cohort of Veterans Health Administration Surgical Patients.Schonberger RB, Dai F, Brandt C, Burg MM. Ambulatory Medical Follow-Up in the Year After Surgery and Subsequent Survival in a National Cohort of Veterans Health Administration Surgical Patients. Journal Of Cardiothoracic And Vascular Anesthesia 2016, 30: 671-9. PMID: 27021176, PMCID: PMC5499041, DOI: 10.1053/j.jvca.2015.12.019.
- Confluence of depression and acute psychological stress among patients with stable coronary heart disease: effects on myocardial perfusion.Burg MM, Meadows J, Shimbo D, Davidson KW, Schwartz JE, Soufer R. Confluence of depression and acute psychological stress among patients with stable coronary heart disease: effects on myocardial perfusion. Journal Of The American Heart Association 2014, 3: e000898. PMID: 25359402, PMCID: PMC4338683, DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.114.000898.
- Endothelial cell activation, reduced endothelial cell reparative capacity, and impaired endothelial-dependent vasodilation after anger provocation.Shimbo D, Rosenberg LB, Chaplin W, Zhao S, Goldensohn ER, Cholankeril M, Fu J, Hong SB, Jelic S, Burg MM. Endothelial cell activation, reduced endothelial cell reparative capacity, and impaired endothelial-dependent vasodilation after anger provocation. International Journal Of Cardiology 2013, 167: 1064-5. PMID: 23157814, PMCID: PMC3582854, DOI: 10.1016/j.ijcard.2012.10.069.
- Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Cardiovascular Disease.Burg MM, Soufer R. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Cardiovascular Disease. Current Cardiology Reports 2016, 18: 94. PMID: 27566327, DOI: 10.1007/s11886-016-0770-5.
- Autonomic contribution to endothelin-1 increase during laboratory anger-recall stress in patients with coronary artery disease.Burg MM, Soufer A, Lampert R, Collins D, Soufer R. Autonomic contribution to endothelin-1 increase during laboratory anger-recall stress in patients with coronary artery disease. Molecular Medicine (Cambridge, Mass.) 2011, 17: 495-501. PMID: 21267513, PMCID: PMC3105151, DOI: 10.2119/molmed.2010.00083.
- Tendency to angry rumination predicts stress-provoked endothelin-1 increase in patients with coronary artery disease.Fernandez AB, Soufer R, Collins D, Soufer A, Ranjbaran H, Burg MM. Tendency to angry rumination predicts stress-provoked endothelin-1 increase in patients with coronary artery disease. Psychosomatic Medicine 2010, 72: 348-53. PMID: 20368479, PMCID: PMC2872076, DOI: 10.1097/PSY.0b013e3181d71982.