Both irritability and dominance may be important factors in men's risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), says new research. Moreover, the researchers report that the odds of having CHD increase as scores for irritability and dominance increase.
"Until recently, most research on the role of psychosocial factors in CHD has focused on hostility and anger, but now we are finding that other factors, such as dominance, may also be risk factors," explained lead investigator Aron Wolfe Siegman, PhD, of the Department of Psychology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
The study looked at the relationship between anger, dominance, and attitudinal hostility and CHD in men and women. It involved 101 male and 95 female volunteers who were interviewed and who completed a questionnaire while visiting the University of Maryland Medical Center and the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions for stress testing. Husbands or wives of a subset of 97 participants also rated their spouses' anger levels.
Forty-four of the participants were healthy with no evidence of CHD; 119 had documented CHD; and 33 were questionable CHD cases. The patients' average age was 55.2 years. The results of the study appear in the current issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.
One of the more notable findings is that not only the full-blown, uncontrollable, and outward expression of anger is a risk factor for CHD in men, but so is irritability.
In addition, the research suggests that the full-blown outward expression of anger is a risk factor for CHD in men and that more subtle, indirect expressions of antagonism are risk factors for CHD in women. However, the widely held belief that men express anger outwardly and women experience anger inwardly was not supported by the study.
The study was conducted jointly by researchers at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Psychosomatic Medicine, published bimonthly, is the official peer-reviewed journal of the American Psychosomatic Society. For information about the journal, contact Joel E. Dimsdale, MD, at (619) 543-5468.
Posted by the Center for the Advancement of Health < http://www.cfah.org >. For information about the Center, call Petrina Chong, < pchong@cfah.org > (202) 387-2829.
Psychosomatic Medicine