Optimistic women may live longer

Optimism appears to lower a women’s risk of death and heart disease, a new study has found.

According to researchers from the University of Pittsburgh in the US, optimistic women have a lower risk of developing heart disease and dying than pessimistic women.

The researchers also found that women with a high degree of cynical hostility – harbouring hostile thoughts toward others or having a general mistrust of people – were at higher risk of dying; however, their risk of developing heart disease was not altered.

The study of more than 97,000 women aged 50-79 years found that optimistic women had a 9% lower risk of developing heart disease and a 14% lower risk of dying from any cause after more than eight years of follow-up, compared to pessimistic women.

Furthermore, women with a high degree of cynical hostility were 16% more likely to die during eight years of follow-up.

Optimists were less likely to have diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or depressive symptoms, smoke, be sedentary or have a high body mass index. However, the relationship between optimism and heart disease and death persisted even after considering all of these factors.

“The majority of evidence suggests that sustained, high degrees of negativity are hazardous to health,” the researchers said.

“This study is a very reasonable stepping stone to future research in this area – both on potential mechanisms of how attitudes may affect health, and for randomised controlled trials to examine if attitudes can be changed to improve health,” the researchers concluded.

The study was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, Circulation.

[Posted: Tue 11/08/2009]