Optimistic Attitudes Protect Against Progression of Carotid Atherosclerosis in Healthy Middle-Aged Women
Abstract
Objective Optimistic people report a higher quality of life, engage in more active coping and adopt more health-promoting behaviors than people low in optimism, ie, pessimism. We evaluated whether pessimists are more likely to show progression in carotid disease than optimists. Methods A total of 209 middle-aged healthy premenopausal women enrolled in an epidemiological study of cardiovascular risk factors and had carotid scans 10.4 years and 13.5 years later when they were at least 5 years postmenopausal. Women completed the Life Orientation Test (LOT), a measure of pessimistic and optimistic attitudes, at study entry and at the time of the first carotid scan. Analyses evaluated the association of LOT scores and change in carotid intima medial thickness (IMT) across 3 years. Results Multiple linear regression analyses showed that the higher the pessimism scores at study entry, the greater the increase in mean IMT (beta = 0.17, p Conclusions Optimistic women are less likely to show progression of carotid disease in mid-life than are pessimists.
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Women with higher optimism scores experienced slower progression of atherosclerosis in their carotid arteries.
“One study found that women with higher optimism scores experienced slower progression of atherosclerosis in their carotid arteries. 65”
From Psychological Health, Well-Being, and the Mind-Heart-Body Connection: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association (2021) · cites this paper as [65]
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- Authors
- Matthews, K. A., Räikkönen, K., Sutton-Tyrrell, K., & Kuller, L. H.
- Affiliations
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- Corresponding author
- Matthews, Karen A.
- Venue
- Psychosomatic Medicine
- Published
- 2004-09
- Volume
- 66
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 640-644
- ISSN
- 0033-3174 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1976286031
- Cited by
- 179
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 12
- FWCI
- 13.23
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychosomatic Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (HL65111, HL65112, HL-28266, P50HL065112, R01HL028266, P50HL065111)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Optimism, Hope, and Well-being
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiovascular Health and Disease Prevention
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Cerebrovascular and Carotid Artery Diseases
- Keywords
- optimism, pessimism, carotid atherosclerosis, carotid intima-media thickness, atherosclerosis progression, middle-aged women, Life Orientation Test, psychosocial factors, cardiovascular risk factors, premenopausal women
- MeSH terms
- Age Factors, Attitude, Carotid Arteries, Carotid Artery Diseases, Female, Health Status, Humans, Life Style, Middle Aged, Regression Analysis, Risk Factors, Sex Factors, Ultrasonography, Disease Progression
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