Ten studies, involving a total of 5826 patients, on type A and post-infarct morbidity/mortality are reviewed. Persons who were assessed to be type A before or shortly after infarction appear not to be at greater risk for death or recurrent cardiac morbidity in the first years subsequent to infarction. In fact they may enjoy lower risk. Persons who show large reductions in type A behaviour likely suffer fewer cardiac recurrences than those who do not. A conceptualization of type A as a modifiable cardiac risk factor which people are inclined to lessen after suffering infarction, is consonant with the findings. An intriguing finding that type A MI-survivors have a greater risk for sudden cardiac death than do non-type A persons awaits replication.KEY WORDS: Coronary disease; myocardial infarction; prospective studies; review; risk factors; type A personality.Research on the role of psychological factors on the incidence of myocardial infarction (MI) has a considerable tradition. The type A Behaviour Pattern (TABP) is probably the most well known psychological risk factor for MI. Type A behaviour is characterized by a relatively high level of ambitiousness, aggressiveness, hostility and competitive drive and a chronic sense of time urgency. The relative absence of these characteristics is labelled type B behaviour. Friedman and Rosenman (1974) defined type A behaviour as an emotional syndrome characterized by a sense of time urgency and easily aroused hostility. Type A behaviour was implicated as a possible risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD) in the Western Collaborative Group Study (Rosenman and colleagues, 1964;1975;1976). During 8.5 years of follow-up, type A men had CHD at approximately twice the rate of type B men. A number of studies supported this finding (e.g.