Inflammation, Atherosclerosis, and Psychological Factors

Inflammation plays an important role in the etiology and pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease and its most common form, atherosclerosis. The present chapter provides the reader a short synopsis of the role of inflammation in the etiology of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ACVD) and lists the most commonly used markers of inflammation and corresponding measurement techniques. With respect to behavioral and psychological factors, this review focuses on relevant studies that have examined the unique associations between inflammatory markers and psychological and behavioral factors associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. These factors include major depressive disorder, severity of depressive symptoms, hostility, and anger. This review also describes an emerging body of evidence suggesting that combinations of psychological factors, and most prominently the combination of hostility and depressive symptoms, may be better predictors of inflammation than any single factor. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the bidirectional nature of the relationship between inflammation and psychological factors as well as the mechanisms potentially underlying these associations.