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------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hopelessness Linked To Progression Of Carotid Atherosclerosis ------------------------------------------------------------------------ WESTPORT, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Personal failure, or hopelessness, appears to have the same detrimental effects on the heart as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, according to findings published in the August issue of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. Dr. Susan A. Everson of the California Public Health Foundation in Berkeley and colleagues there and in Finland used data collected in a 4-year follow-up of patients enrolled in The Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study to re-examine a recently reported link between "hopelessness" and cardiovascular disease. "This study demonstrates that a high level of hopelessness exacerbates the atherosclerotic process in middle-aged men," Dr. Everson and colleagues report. Specifically, the researchers found that men reporting high levels of hopelessness at baseline had an almost 20% greater increase over time in intima-media thickening compared with men with low to moderate levels of hopelessness. Moreover, the most hopeless male study subjects also experienced 10% greater progression in plaque height during the study relative to men with lower hopelessness scores. "This is the same magnitude of increased risk that one sees in comparing a pack-a-day smoker to a nonsmoker," Dr. Everson points out in an American Heart Association press release. The authors observed that hopelessness was associated with all measures of baseline [intima-media thickening] progression used, and Dr. Everson thinks that "...hopelessness exacerbates the mechanisms that contributed to increased arterial wall thickening but may be less important in the initial atherosclerotic process." Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 1997;17:000-000. Westport Newsroom 203 319 2700 Copyright 1997 Reuters Limited. <http://www.reutershealth.com/news/docs/199708/19970826cla.html> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [log in to unmask]