An optimistic mindset lowers the odds of cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality, according to a new review.
Investigators analyzed 15 studies involving nearly 230,000 participants. They found that individuals with high optimism scores had a significantly lower risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke. The results were consistent after adjusting for a variety of clinical measures such as depression, sex and study follow-up duration. Optimism was also associated with a reduction in all-cause mortality, but the decrease in risk was more modest, wrote the researchers.
The results support other findings linking psychosocial risk factors with cardiovascular disease, wrote Alan Rozanski, M.D., Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, and colleagues. These include negative emotions such as depression and anxiety, social factors such as loneliness, and chronic stress, the authors reported.
