Pessimists likely die heart disease, study shows 

• Finnish study found pessimism drives up blood sugar and blood pressure
• 11 years after starting their study, 121 people had died of heart disease - they all had a gloomier outlook than the surviving participants, study said
• Optimistic people do not vastly improve their health or lifespan, but fare better than pessimists, the researchers concluded 

 

Pessimists have a higher risk of dying from heart disease, a new study warns. 

Those who meditate on the future - certain that few good things will come - drive up their blood sugar levels and blood pressure, the Finnish researchers found.

And in a psychological study of more than 2,000 men and women over 11 years, they found the 121 people who died of heart disease had a gloomier outlook than the rest.

Optimism shouldn't get smug, however: taking a 'glass half full' outlook does not markedly improve your lifespan or health. 

But positivity does not carry the health dangers that negativity does.

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Pessimists have a higher risk of dying from heart disease, a new study warns

The study by a team at the Department of Psychiatry, Päijät-Häme Central Hospital, Finland, is the first to examine heart disease mortality and its association with optimism and pessimism independently.

'Levels of pessimism can be measured quite easily and pessimism might be a very useful tool together with other known risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension or smoking to determine the risk of CHD-induced mortality,' lead author Dr Mikko Pänkäläinen said.

'High levels of pessimism have previously been linked to factors that affect cardiac health, such as inflammation, but data on the connection between risk of death from CHD and optimism and pessimism as personality traits are relatively scarce.'

The researchers consulted data collected in 2002 as part of a far-reaching ageing study involving 2,267 Finnish men and women aged between 52 and 76 years old.

The data covered socioeconomic status, psychosocial background, lifestyle, blood sugar levels, blood pressure, prescriptions, and illnesses.

Then, their levels of optimism or pessimism were rated.

This was done with a questionnaire; responding to three optimistic statements and three pessimistic statements. 

An example of an optimistic statement was: 'In uncertain times, I usually expect the best'.

One of the pessimistic statements was: 'If something can go wrong for me, it will'.

They had to say how strongly they identified with each statement on a scale of 0 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree).

The researchers found that the 121 men and women who died from heart disease during the study's eleven-year follow-up period had been more pessimistic at the start than people who were still alive at follow-up.

And overall, people in the 'most pessimistic' group had a 2.2-fold higher risk of dying from heart disease than the moderately pessimistic participants.

The study was limited by the fact that the data was self-reported. 

However, the researchers insist this follows a trend of studies, demonstrating pessimism is not good for one's health.   

 Expect the worst and you'll never be disappointed." This is the motto some of us live by. But for patients with heart disease, this pessimistic view of life may ultimately raise their risk of death.

Researchers find that patients with CHD who have a 'glass-half-empty' attitude may be more likely to die from their condition.

In a new study published in the journal BMC Public Health, researchers found that patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) who were more pessimistic were more likely to die from their condition than those with lower levels of pessimism.
Interestingly, however, the research team - led by Dr. Mikko Pänkäläinen of Päijät-Häme Central Hospital in Finland - found that high levels of optimism did not protect patients against CHD mortality.
CHD - also known as coronary artery disease (CAD) - is the most common form of heart disease in the United States, responsible for more than 370,000 deaths every year.
CHD occurs when plaque gradually builds up in the walls of the coronary arteries, which supply oxygen-rich blood to the heart and other areas of the body. Over time, the heart muscle can weaken, causing arrhythmia - irregular heartbeat - and heart failure.
Previous studies have suggested pessimism - defined as a tendency to anticipate undesirable outcomes - can have negative implications for heart health compared with optimism.
Dr. Pänkäläinen and colleagues decided to explore this association further by looking at how pessimism and optimism independently affect mortality for patients with CHD.
"High levels of pessimism have previously been linked to factors that affect cardiac health, such as inflammation, but data on the connection between risk of death from CHD and optimism and pessimism as personality traits are relatively scarce," Dr. Pänkäläinen notes.

Pessimism increased CHD death risk more than twofold

For their research, the team analyzed data of 2,267 men and women from Finland who were part of the country's Good Ageing in Lahti region (GOAL) study.
Participants were aged between 52-76 years at study baseline in 2002 and were followed-up for an average of 11 years.
Upon enrollment, subjects completed the Life Orientation Test (LOT-R), which assesses levels of pessimism and optimism through a number of statements, such as, "In uncertain times, I usually expect the best," and, "If something can go wrong for me, it will."
Participants were required to rate how well each statement described them on a scale of zero to four, with zero representing "not at all" and four representing "very much so."
During follow-up, 121 participants died from CHD, the team reports, and these subjects were more likely to be highly pessimistic at study baseline.
Compared with subjects in the lowest quartile of pessimism, those in the highest quartile were 2.2 times more likely to die from CHD during the 11-year follow-up.
However, the researchers found that optimism did not protect against CHD death. There were no differences between low and high optimists with regard to CHD mortality during follow-up.
While these findings are purely observational and cannot prove cause and effect, Dr. Pänkäläinen and team say the results indicate pessimism may be an indicator of CHD mortality.

"Levels of pessimism can be measured quite easily, and pessimism might be a very useful tool together with other known risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, or smoking to determine the risk of CHD-induced mortality."

Dr. Mikko Pänkäläinen

Read how yo-yo dieting may increase the risk of death from heart disease.

Written by Honor Whiteman