Psychiatric Antecedents of Myocardial Infarction

Bianchi, G. N.; Fergusson, David M.; Walshe, J. W. B.

doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.1978.tb107861.x

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Another retrospective study, done in New Zealand, determined the extent to which negative emotional states typically preceed the occurrence of MI (Bianchi et al, 1978). Information was obtained by a semi-structured interview of patients that had survived their first MI as well as from control patients that had undergone noncardiac surgical operations.…”

Section: Retrospective Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Negative emotions and coronary heart disease: Causally related or merely coexistent? A review

Smith

2001

Scandinavian J Psychology

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Negative emotions have been claimed to be a cause of coronary heart disease (CHD) as well as a consequence of cardiovascular disorders. Early case studies of cardiac disorders of soldiers in battle drew attention to the possibility that strong negative emotional states could cause CHD. Subsequent reports of reactions to natural disasters supported the notion that intense negative emotions could precipitate somatic disorders such as CHD. Since then, numerous studies have investigated relations between negative emotions and CHD. Over the years, retrospective studies have found, for example, that negative emotions are often present before the occurrence of CHD. Cross-sectional studies have indicated that symptoms of depression and anxiety are often present in CHD patients. Prospective studies have shown that the likelihood of CHD tends to be higher for people with negative emotions than for those without them. The main symptoms of negative emotional states that seem to be most closely associated with CHD are nervousness, getting easily upset, feeling fatigue, being indecisive, having sleep disturbances, being usually worried about something, and feeling that others would be better off if oneself were dead. Although the findings appear to support the notion of causal connections between negative emotions and CHD, they fail to provide conclusive proof of such relations. An alternative explanation that could also account for the findings is simply that negative emotions and CHD often coexist.

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Section: Retrospective Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Negative emotions and coronary heart disease: Causally related or merely coexistent? A review

Smith

2001

Scandinavian J Psychology

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Section: Construct Validitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This line of research is important both for improving the prediction of CHD and for determining how the construct of Type A relates and compares with other psychological factors in its effects on cardiovascular disease, that is, in establishing its construct validity. In particular, three other variables that have sometimes been studied in relation to CHD are depression (Bruhn, Chandler, & Wolf, 1969), extraversion (Bianchi, Fergusson, & Walshe, 1978), and anxiety (Segers & Mertens, 1977). A key question that will be addressed in this investigation is whether these psychological variables are reliably associated with CHD and, if so, whether they overlap with or are independent of Type A behavior.…”

Section: Construct Validitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological predictors of heart disease: A quantitative review.

Booth-Kewley¹,

Frıedman²

1987

Psychological Bulletin

744

387

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After 3 decades of intensive research, there is still confusion about the nature and reliability of relations between psychological factors and coronary heart disease (CHD). A meta-analysis, or quantitative review, was performed to integrate and organize the results of studies that investigated certain personality variables in relation to CHD. The personality variables included were anger, hostility, aggression, depression, extroversion, anxiety, Type A, and the major components of Type A. The meta-analytic framework helps focus attention on issues needing clarification. The results indicate that modest but reliable associations exist between some of the personality variables and CHD. The strongest associations were found for Type A and, surprisingly, for depression, but anger/hostility/ aggression and anxiety also related reliably to CHD. The Structured Interview diagnosis of Type A was shown to be clearly superior to the Jenkins Activity Survey as a predictor of CHD. The Type A-CHD relation was smaller in prospective than in cross-sectional studies and smaller in recent than in less recent studies. This review also revealed that information about the interrelations of personality predictors of CHD is sorely needed. The picture of coronary-proneness revealed by this review is not one of a hurried, impatient workaholic but instead is one of a person with one or more negative emotions. We suggest that the concept of the coronary-prone personality and its associated research be broadened to encompass psychological attributes in addition to those associated with Type A behavior and narrowed to eliminate those components that the accumulated evidence shows to be unimportant.Understanding the relation between psychological factors and heart disease has proved to be a difficult task, hampered by the weaknesses of vague constructs and correlational research designs. After nearly a century of speculation and 3 decades of intensive research, the nature of the relation between psychological factors and coronary heart disease (CHD) is still unclear.Yet because CHD is such a serious problem, accounting for about a third of all deaths in the United States, most would agree that the issue deserves continued investigation and review.Most of the research conducted in search of a coronary-prone personality-a style of behaving and coping that leads to coronary artery damage-has focused on the Type A behavior pattern (TABP), a collection of behaviors that seems predictive of clinically apparent CHD (Cooper, Detre, & Weiss, 1981; Dembroski, Weiss, Shields, Haynes, & Feinleib, 1978). As described by its discoverers, the TABP refers broadly to the behavior pattern of any person who is involved in an aggressive and incessant struggle to achieve more and more in less and less time (e.g., M. Friedman & Rosenman, 1974;Rosenman, 1978). The major elements of the behavior pattern are competitive achievement striving, a sense of time urgency and impatience, aggressiveness, and easily aroused hostility. One major question of this review is whe...

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Obesity, stress, and smoking: Their role as cardiovascular risk factors in women

Burkman

1988

American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology

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Psychiatric Antecedents of Myocardial Infarction

Cited by 10 publications

References 15 publications

Negative emotions and coronary heart disease: Causally related or merely coexistent? A review

Negative emotions and coronary heart disease: Causally related or merely coexistent? A review

Psychological predictors of heart disease: A quantitative review.

Obesity, stress, and smoking: Their role as cardiovascular risk factors in women

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