title: Personality and physician-assessed illness burden in older primary care patients over 4 years.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Personality traits have been associated with physician-rated illness burden cross-sectionally, but longitudinal associations between personality and objective medical morbidity remain unclear.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine associations between personality and physician-rated illness burden 4 years prospectively in older primary care patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  At baseline, patients (average age: 75, SD: 6.6, 62% female) completed the NEO-Five Factor Inventory. At baseline and 4 yearly follow-ups, a physician completed the Cumulative Illness Rating Scale on the basis of medical records.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Linear mixed-effects models revealed that higher neuroticism and lower conscientiousness predicted worse average illness burden longitudinally. Relatively disagreeable persons (25th percentile) accumulated morbidity at a 33% faster rate than agreeable (75th percentile) peers. At the final follow-up, a person at the 75th percentile of neuroticism and the 25th percentile of conscientiousness and agreeableness showed morbidity comparable to a peer of average personality but 10 years older. An individual at the 25th percentile of neuroticism and 75th percentile of conscientiousness and agreeableness showed end-point illness burden comparable to a peer of average personality but 10 years younger. Twenty-one percent of the morbidity associated with neuroticism was explained by total cholesterol. History of hypertension, smoking, alcohol/drug abuse, and affective symptoms of depression each explained 10% or less of the other observed personality effects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Personality plays a nontrivial role in healthy aging among older persons. Brief personality assessment may identify at-risk older persons for closer monitoring, enhance the accuracy of medical prognosis, and provide clues for clinical interventions to promote better health.
authors.affiliation: Geriatric Psychiatry Program, Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York. Electronic address: Benjamin_chapman@urmc.rochester.edu.
authors.forename: Benjamin P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Chapman
authors.forename: Brent
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lyness
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Duberstein
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D010552:Personality Assessment; D058007:Physicians, Primary Care; D011446:Prospective Studies
keywords: Cohort study; medical illness; older persons; personality traits; primary care