title: Fear and C-reactive protein cosynergize annual pulse increases in healthy adults.
abstract: Recent international terror outbreaks notably involve long-term mental health risks to the exposed population, but whether physical health risks are also anticipated has remained unknown. Here, we report fear of terror-induced annual increases in resting heart rate (pulse), a notable risk factor of all-cause mortality. Partial least squares analysis based on 325 measured parameters successfully predicted annual pulse increases, inverse to the expected age-related pulse decline, in approximately 4.1% of a cohort of 17,380 apparently healthy active Israeli adults. Nonbiased hierarchical regression analysis among 27 of those parameters identified pertinent fear of terror combined with the inflammatory biomarker C-reactive protein as prominent coregulators of the observed annual pulse increases. In comparison, basal pulse primarily depended on general physiological parameters and reduced cholinergic control over anxiety and inflammation, together indicating that consistent exposure to terror threats ignites fear-induced exacerbation of preexisting neuro-immune risks of all-cause mortality.
authors.affiliation: The Edmond and Lily Safra Center of Brain Science and the Department of Biological Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel;
authors.forename: Shani
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shenhar-Tsarfaty
authors.affiliation: The Edmond and Lily Safra Center of Brain Science and the Department of Biological Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel;
authors.forename: Nadav
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yayon
authors.affiliation: The Edmond and Lily Safra Center of Brain Science and the Department of Biological Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel;
authors.forename: Nir
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Waiskopf
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine "D&E," Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv 6423906, Israel;
authors.forename: Itzhak
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Shapira
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Management, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel; and.
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Toker
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine "D&E," Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv 6423906, Israel;
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zaltser
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine "D&E," Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv 6423906, Israel;
authors.forename: Shlomo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berliner
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics and the Center for Rationality, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel.
authors.forename: Ya'acov
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ritov
authors.affiliation: The Edmond and Lily Safra Center of Brain Science and the Department of Biological Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel; soreq@cc.huji.ac.il.
authors.forename: Hermona
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Soreq
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D002097:C-Reactive Protein
keywords: C-reactive protein; acetylcholinesterase; cholinergic status; pulse; terror