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Optimistic Elderly Men have Lower Risk of
Cardiovascular Death
Feb. 27, 2006 - The most optimistic elderly men in
a Dutch study had a lower risk of cardiovascular death over 15 years
when compared with the least optimistic, according to an article in the
February 27 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the
JAMA/Archives journals.
Studies suggest that a person’s optimism can
predict their well-being and physical health, according to background
information in the article.
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Being optimistic has been associated with better
health outcomes in patients with ischemic heart disease (caused by
narrowing of the coronary arteries), and with a lower risk for all-cause
death and cardiovascular disease and death.
The study authors focused on dispositional
optimism, defined as having generally positive life engagement and
expectancies for one’s future.
Erik J. Giltay, Ph.D., M.D., of GGZ Delfland,
Institute of Mental Health, Deft, the Netherlands, and colleagues
studied elderly men living in the Netherlands to determine optimism’s
effect on cardiovascular death.
The study included 545 men aged 64 to 84 years who
did not have pre-existing cardiovascular disease or cancer.
Optimism was assessed in 1985, 1990, 1995 and 2000
in a questionnaire given to study participants, who were asked to rate
their agreement with the following items: “I still expect much from
life,” “I do not look forward to what lies ahead for me in the years to
come,” “My days seem to be passing by slowly” and “I am still full of
plans.” The men were given scores and divided into groups based on their
levels of optimism.
The researchers found optimism to be associated
with an approximately 50 percent lower risk of cardiovascular death in
the men over 15 years of follow-up. Higher optimism scores were
associated with younger age, higher education, less often living alone,
better health, a higher physical activity score and a lower depression
score in 1990. On a scale from zero to three, with three being the most
optimistic, the average scores decreased from 1.50 in 1985 to 1.27 in
2000. Current and past study results indicate that an individual’s
optimism changes only moderately over time, though it does tend to
decrease with age.
“Optimism can be estimated easily and is stable
over long periods,” the authors write.
“It is yet to be established whether interventions
aimed at improving an older individual’s level of optimism may reduce
the risk of cardiovascular mortality.”
Editor’s Note: The Zutphen Elderly Study was
supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and
Development, The Hague.
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