ArticleBMC public health2016
Pessimism and risk of death from coronary heart disease among middle-aged and older Finns: an eleven-year follow-up study.
Article in BMC public health, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 77 citations in OpenAlex.
- The impact of gratitude interventions on patients with cardiovascular disease: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Pooled it
- Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Efficacy of a Positive Psychology Intervention in Patients With Coronary Heart Disease: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison PsychiatryTrial
- Mental health status and cardiovascular outcomes across Life's Essential 8 categories.International journal of cardiology. Cardiovascular risk and prevention · 2025Article
- Association of the "life's crucial 9" cardiovascular health with all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality: a national cohort study.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2025Article
- Negative Life Events as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Optimism and Cardiovascular Reactivity.Psychophysiology · 2025Article
- Positive cardiovascular health: longitudinal investigation of sustained health behavior in a cross-lagged model.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Stress-Mediated Abnormalities in Regional Myocardial Wall Motion in Young Women with a History of Psychological Trauma.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- A pilot exploration of the relationships between optimism, affect, and cardiovascular reactivity.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Association between different dimensions of anger and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in at-risk cardiovascular patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- The Association of Dispositional Optimism and Pessimism With Cardiovascular Disease Events in Older Adults: A Prospective Cohort Study.Journal of aging and health · 2022Article
- Cross-sectional associations of optimism with artery calcification and function: The SCAPIS study.Journal of public health research · 2022Article
- Independent and Joint Associations of Pessimism, Total Calorie Intake and Acid-Producing Diets with Insomnia Symptoms among Breast Cancer Survivors.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- Role of personality in cardiovascular diseases: An issue that needs to be focused too!Indian heart journal · 2018Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMortality from coronary heart disease (CHD) remains at quite notable levels. Research on the risk factors and the treatment of CHD has focused on physiological factors, but there is an increasing amount of evidence connecting mental health and personality traits to CHD, too. The data concerning the connection of CHD and dispositional optimism and pessimism as personality traits is relatively scarce. The aim of this study was to investigate the connection between optimism, pessimism, and CHD mortality.
methodsThis was an 11-year prospective cohort study on a regional sample of three cohorts, aged 52-56, 62-66, and 72-76 years at baseline (N = 2815). The levels of dispositional optimism and pessimism of the study subjects were determined at baseline using a revised version of the Life Orientation Test (LOT-R). Eleven years later, those results and follow-up data about CHD as a cause of death were used to calculate odds. Adjustments were made for cardiovascular disease risk.
resultsThose who died because of CHD were significantly more pessimistic at baseline than the others. This finding applies to both men and women. Among the study subjects in the highest quartile of pessimism, the adjusted risk of death caused by CHD was approximately 2.2-fold (OR 2.17, 95 % CI 1.21-3.89) compared to the subjects in the lowest quartile. Optimism did not seem to have any connection with the risk of CHD-induced mortality.
conclusionsPessimism seems to be a substantial risk factor for death from CHD. As an easily measured variable, it might be a very useful tool together with the other known risk factors to determine the risk of CHD-induced mortality.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.