The emotional heart: prospective associations of anger, depression, and anxiety as risk factors for myocardial infarction in a 22-year follow-up of a working cohort of middle-aged men

Aim The study aim was to further clarify the relationship between psychological factors and myocardial infarction (MI) by simultaneously examining anger, depression, and anxiety as risk factors for incident MI in a healthy working sample. Subject and method Baseline measurements of psychological variables were assessed through a self-reported questionnaire in a healthy cohort of 968 middle-aged men working at the Volvo Corporation. Single-item questions assessed depression and anxiety. Anger was assessed by the Trait Anger subscale of the Spielberger State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory. The endpoint was incident MI verified by national registers or medical records with follow up after 22 years. The main outcome was computed through logistic regression, reported as odds ratios. Additional correlation analyses were performed between psychological variables and coronary risk factors. Results None of the psychological variables was significantly associated with the outcome; thus, the results failed to show an association between anger, depression, or anxiety and incident MI in this sample. There were some significant, but weak, correlations between psychological factors and negative health behaviors. Other components of traditional risk scoring instruments did not correlate with the psychological factors. Conclusion A cohort restricted to middle-age healthy men limits applicability. However, our failure to replicate earlier results of population samples suggests a need for further research on associations between psychological factors and MI in healthy samples.