Hostility levels may be a better predictor of heart disease risk than factors such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, smoking or being overweight, suggests a new study.
The nearly 800 men in this study are part of an ongoing aging study that began in 1960. The men have thorough medical exams every three years and receive ongoing preventive healthcare advice.
Researchers found that heart attacks, chest pains or other signs of heart disease occurred much more frequently among men who measured as hostile on a personality test than in men who clearly had more traditional risk factors.
People with high hostility levels have shown more pronounced blood pressure and heart rate responses when they are put into situations designed to make them angry. And hostile people are also more likely to practice habits that increase heart disease risk. Men in their mid-40s, who scored highest for hostility on this same personality test were more likely to be smokers, have high cholesterol levels and blood pressure, lower HDLs, and have a higher body mass index.
Sources: Sid Kirchheimer, Hostility Predicts Heart Disease, WebMD Medical News, Nov. 18, 2002 and Raymond Niaura, et al., Hostility, the Metabolic Syndrome, and Incident Coronary Heart Disease, Health Psychology, November 2002.
For text http://my.webmd.com/printing/article/1675.65822
For more on Preventive Medicine http://www.ncpa.org/iss/hea
FMF Policy Bulletin\26 November 2002
