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Dispositional mindfulness linked with better cardiovascular health

People with greater dispositional mindfulness had better overall cardiovascular health and were less likely to smoke or engage in other behaviors that posed a risk for cardiovascular disease in a recent study.

Researchers from Brown University randomly sampled participants — with a preference for racial and ethnic minorities — from the New England Family Study. The cohort included 17,921 children pregnant women in the Collaborative Perinatal Project, born from 1959 to 1974. The original sample of 400 participants included 23% nonwhite individuals; 24.4% were reported to be in good cardiovascular health. Eighteen participants were later excluded for lack of data.

Mindfulness was defined as the ability to attend nonjudgmentally to one’s own physical and mental processes while performing routine tasks. Participants responded to the Mindful Attention Assessment Survey (MAAS). Questions included examples such as “I find it difficult to stay focused on what is happening in the present” and “I could be experiencing some emotion and not be conscious of it until some time later.”

Participants also were assessed for cardiovascular risks using the American Heart Association’s seven criteria (smoking avoidance, physical activity, lean body mass, healthy diet, and untreated total cholesterol, hypertension and fasting blood glucose).

Multivariable adjusted log-binomial regression analyses showed a prevalence ratio (PR) of 1.86 (95% CI, 1.08-3.19) for correlation of high vs. low MAAS scores with good cardiovascular health, adjusted for age, sex and race. Similar associations were shown with analysis of MAAS quartiles (PR=1.8; 95% CI, 1.09-2.99) or tertiles (PR=1.46; 95% CI, 0.95-2.24).

The researchers found “significant associations of cardiovascular health status with sex, race, depressive symptomology, sense of control and education.” Mediation analyses showed that depressive symptomology and sense of control, but not education, could be mediators. High mindfulness also was associated with lower rates of smoking (PR=1.37; 95% CI, 1.06-1.76), ideal BMI (PR=2.17; 95% CI, 1.16-4.07), fasting glucose (PR=1.47; 95% CI, 1.06-2.04) and physical activity (PR=1.56; 95% CI, 1.04-2.35).

No associations were observed between mindfulness and total cholesterol, blood pressure, or fruit and vegetable consumption.

“Mindfulness is positively associated with cardiovascular health and that sense of control and depressive symptomatology may be mediating mechanisms,” the researchers concluded. “Furthermore, smoking, body mass index, fasting glucose, and physical activity appeared to be the most important drivers of observed associations of mindfulness with cardiovascular health.”

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.