Were we really surprised to read that Kenneth Lay died suddenly of what the newspapers called "a massive coronary" July 5 at age 64?
We do tend to think that severe stress can cause a heart attack. And it's hard to imagine the extraordinary stress Lay had suffered during his trial and while awaiting sentencing after his criminal conviction for fraud and conspiracy in the collapse of Enron, the company he headed until its collapse in 2001.
Is it true that chronic stress predisposes one to coronary disease and heart attacks? In fact, our inability to define objective measures of stress has made it difficult to prove this relationship. For example, who is suffering more stress: the CEO of a company whose decisions may cost millions of dollars in losses for stockholders, or the man in a dead-end job who feels stuck?
Most experts do agree that severe acute stress can cause sudden cardiac death, even though there is no proof for this belief, either. Cited as supporting evidence are the reported increases in sudden death after earthquakes in San Francisco in 1906 and in Athens in 1981, as well as following the events of 9/11.
Sudden cardiac death is usually due to the development of ventricular fibrillation, which can result directly from the stress-induced release of adrenalin from the adrenal gland or as the consequence of a heart attack. Excessive adrenalin levels might trigger a heart attack by producing a rapid rise in blood pressure that could cause a blood clot to form at the site of a ruptured atherosclerotic plaque.
Depression is also associated with a greater risk of a heart attack, and I for one would certainly be massively depressed after going through the literal and figurative trials of Kenneth Lay.
