The association of peripheral arterial disease with hostility in a young, healthy veteran population.

Abstract

The association of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) with hostility, a component of Type A behavior, has not been investigated. Previous studies have found an association between coronary arterial disease and hostility. We used Doppler tests to define PAD as consisting of a resting index less than 0.9, absence of posterior tibial waveform, or presence of a femoral bruit. Among 4,462 male veterans, the prevalence and odds ratio of PAD increased statistically significantly with an increase in the Cook-Medley hostility scale. The prevalence of PAD was 0.7%, 1.1%, 1.4%, and 1.6% in the first, second, third, and fourth quartiles of the hostility scale, respectively. Using the first quartile as a reference group, we found that odds ratios of PAD were 1.6, 1.9, and 2.2 for the second, third, and fourth quartiles, respectively. Odds ratios, adjusted for age, race, cigarette smoking, hypertension, familial ischemic heart disease, diabetes, and elevated LDL/HDL were 1.4, 1.6, and 1.8, respectively. The magnitude of the odds ratios and their statistically significant trend suggest an association between PAD and hostility.

Peripheral arterial disease in Scottish military veterans: a retrospective cohort study of 57 000 veterans and 173 000 matched non-veterans

“…The increase in risk of PAD persisted after adjusting for smoking, family history and other risk factors, [29] Our finding that only around 3% of both veterans and non-veterans with PAD had comorbid PTSD indicates that although this was not a major risk factor in our study, the prevalence of anger in military personnel [30] suggests that the association with hostility may be a contributory factor.…”

Hostility and health: Current status of a psychosomatic hypothesis.

“…In a random sample of more than 4,000 male veterans ranging in age from 31 to 46 years, Joesoef, Wetterhall, DeStefano, Stroup, and Fronek (1989) found a small but significant association between Ho scores and the prevalence of peripheral artery disease. In a sample of more than 3,700 Finnish male twins ages 40 to 59 years, scores on a self-report measure of anger proneness, irritability, and argumentiveness were associated with increased prevalence of angina (Koskenvuo et al, 1988).…”

Dimensions of Anger and Hostility in Cardiac Patients, Hypertensive Patients, and Controls

“…The Cook and Medley Hostility Scale (HO) [9] is a self-reported general measure of cynical hostility [10], which has been success fully used in several studies of the health con sequences of hostility, especially in regard to cardiovascular disease (CVD) [11][12][13]; al though other studies failed to replicate the same results [14][15][16], Although several studies on the HO con struct suggested the presence of one main fac tor labelled cynicism [17,18], three main aspects of hostility have been proposed as concepts to be considered as separate in the HO [19][20][21], The cognitive component con sists of negative beliefs about the trustworthi ness of others. The affective component in cludes negative emotional states like anger, irritability, and contempt associated with so cial relationships.…”