Anger & Hostility; Traits of Type A & Type D Personality and its Association with Cardiovascular Diseases

Under the branch of psychoneuroimmunology, the etiology of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) has often been linked with types of personalities. Personality type A, and the behavior linked known as Type A Behaviour Pattern (TABP), and Personality Type D have been predominantly studied across the world concerning Coronary Heart Diseases (CHD) since they present the two extremes of personalities. Most of the findings point towards the hypothesis which suggests that personality type A or/and personality type D are more prone to CHD, and cancer because of the two prominent traits namely; anger and hostility. This paper aims to review and summarize the existing literature on the relationship between the two personalities and cardiovascular diseases. The biomarkers that were used in most of the studies for the prognosis of CVD were Troponin I, Cortisol levels, and Left Ventricle Ejection Fraction. After analyzing the data, it was found that the link between the personalities and CVD is due to the abundance of negative affective traits like anger and hostility. According to J. Suls, these traits are the cause for “stress exposure and reactivity, exaggerated autonomic function, reduced heart rate variability, platelet aggregation, and inflammation”. On the contrary, traits such as optimism, conscientiousness, openness to experience, and curiosity (also known as ‘cardioprotective’ personality traits) were seen as protective factors against the development of CVDs. Hence, the ascertainment of the cause of CVD with respect to personality characteristics is plausible to present a clearer view of the risk factors associated with CVDs.