Hostility may predict mortality in ACS
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Hostility may increase mortality risk in patients with ACS, although it may not affect the risk for recurrent ACS, researchers found.
“Hostility is a personality trait that includes being sarcastic, cynical, resentful, impatient or irritable,” Tracey K. Vitori, PhD, RN, ACNP, assistant professor at University of Tennessee College of Nursing in Knoxville, said in a press release. “It’s not just a one-off occurrence but characterizes how a person interacts with people. We know that taking control of lifestyle habits improves the outlook for heart attack patients, and our study suggests that improving hostile behaviors could also be a positive move.”
In a secondary analysis of the PROMOTION trial published in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, researchers analyzed data from 2,321 patients (mean age, 67 years; 68% men; 73% married) with ACS. Information was collected through medical record review, structured interviews and paper and pencil instruments, one of which was the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List to measure hostility. Through this, patients selected adjectives that described their feelings in the past week. Higher scores suggested greater hostility. The threshold for a patient with a high level of hostility was a score of 7.
Follow-up was conducted for 24 months for the recurrence of ACS and all-cause mortality.
Of the patients in the study, 57% were considered hostile (mean score, 7.56). The mean score in patients with hostility was 10.3 compared with 4 in those without hostility (P < .001).
Recurrent ACS occurred in 8.3% of patients. Hostility was not an independent predictor of ACS recurrence (P = .792) despite showing significance in the Cox regression model (P < .001).
During follow-up, 1.6% of patients died. The researchers found hostility was an independent predictor of all-cause mortality (P < .039). Each unit increase in hostility score was linked to a 52% higher likelihood of mortality.
“Identifying and treating hostility needs to be a priority, along with optimizing physical and health behaviors to reduce cardiovascular risk,” Vitori and colleagues wrote. “The prevention and treatment of hostility to decrease mortality seems an important treatment goal, particularly from a multidisciplinary approach.”
Collapse
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts