A Positive Outlook Greatly Reduces Heart Risk
Individuals who have higher levels of optimism have as much as a 73% lower risk of heart failure as compared with those who are pessimistic, according to a new study.
Dispositional optimism has previously been linked to multiple cardiovascular benefits, including lowered risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, and hospitalization after bypass surgery. Researchers hypothesized that higher optimism may also be associated with a lower risk of developing heart failure.
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Researchers analyzed prospective data from 6808 participants (≤50 years) in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), which independently tracked heart failure and psychological factors.
Optimism was assessed using the 6-item Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R); participants ranked items on a 6-point Likert scale indicating the degree to which an item was endorsed. Negative worded items were reversed scored and the scores of the 6 items were averaged and standardized. Higher scores reflected higher optimism.
Optimism was calculated as: 3.21 (low), 4.07 (low-moderate), 4.81 (moderate-high), and 5.68 (high).
After adjusting for sociodemographic, behavioral, biological, and psychological covariates, higher optimism was associated with a lower risk of heart failure over the 4-year follow-up period. Each standard deviation increase in optimism had an odds ratio of 0.74 (95% CI, 0.63-0.85) for heart failure.
“Higher baseline optimism was associated with a reduced risk of heart failure over time. This finding remained even after adjusting for a wide range of potential confounders,” said Eric S. Kim, lead author of the study. “Further, people who were the most optimistic [showed] a 73% reduced risk of heart failure when compared with those who were the least optimistic.”
Researchers noted that adopting a healthier lifestyle, including diet, exercise, and managing stress levels, could help explain the findings.
Study limitations included relying on self-reported heart failure, unaccounted potential confounders including family history of cardiovascular disease and genetic vulnerability, and failure to recognize that people may have had lower optimism as a result of undiagnosed heart failure.
“Recent research shows that optimism can be systemically increased. As optimism interventions continue to be researched (along with research examining the links between optimism and enhanced physical health), I think it would eventually be interesting to test if people who decide to participate in optimism interventions start acting in healthier ways and accumulate better health. More research is needed before we get to that point, but it's an intriguing idea,” said Kim.
– Sarah O’Brien
Reference:
Kim E, Smith J, Kubzansky L. A prospective study of the association between dispositional optimism and incident heart failure. Circulation: Heart Failure. 2014 Mar. [epub ahead of print] doi:10.1161/CIRCHEARTFAILURE.113.000644