Low pessimism protects against stroke: the Health and Social Support (HeSSup) prospective cohort study.
OBJECTIVE
The association between optimism and pessimism and health outcomes has attracted increasing research interest. To date, the association between these psychological variables and risk of stroke remains unclear. We examined the relationship between pessimism and the 7-year incidence of stroke.


METHODS
A random sample of 23 216 adults (9480 men, 13 796 women) aged 20 to 54 years completed the pessimism scale in 1998, that is, at study baseline. Fatal and first nonfatal stroke events during a mean follow-up of 7.0 years were documented by linkage to the national hospital discharge and mortality registers leading to 105 events.


RESULTS
Unadjusted hazard ratio was 0.44 (95% CI, 0.25 to 0.77) for participants in the lowest quartile (a low pessimism level) when compared with those in the highest quartile (a high pessimism level). After serial adjustments for sociodemographic characteristics, cardiovascular biobehavioral risk factors, depression, general feeling of stressfulness, and ischemic heart disease, the fully adjusted hazard ratio was 0.52 (95% CI, 0.29 to 0.93).


CONCLUSIONS
In this population of adult men and women, low level of pessimism had a robust association with reduced incidence of stroke.
Nabi
Hermann
H
INSERM Unité 687, 16 avenue Paul Vaillant Couturier, 94807 Villejuif Cedex, France. Hermann.Nabi@inserm.fr
Koskenvuo
Markku
M
Singh-Manoux
Archana
A
Korkeila
Jyrki
J
Suominen
Sakari
S
Korkeila
Katariina
K
Vahtera
Jussi
J
Kivimäki
Mika
M
D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012944:Social Support; D020521:Stroke / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult