Reducing Hostility In Young Coronary Artery Disease Patients Is Important Piece Of Rehabilitation, Suggests Mayo Clinic Proceedings Study

Of the 500 patients in the study, hostility scores were 2.5 times higher in patients under 50 ("younger patients") than in those 65 and older.

"Our study data reveal the high prevalence of hostility symptoms in young coronary artery disease patients," says Carl Lavie, M.D., a cardiologist at Ochsner Clinic Foundation in New Orleans and the chief author of the study. "We believe that reducing hostility and other distress, particularly in young coronary artery disease patients, should be emphasized in rehabilitation following a heart attack."

Dr. Lavie and Richard Milani, M.D., also of the Ochsner Clinic Foundation, sought to determine the prevalence of hostility in young coronary artery disease patients because recent data indicate that they have a poor long-term prognosis, and that hostility is associated with premature coronary artery disease and heart attack.

The researchers noted that after cardiac rehabilitation, young patients with hostility symptoms had marked improvements in coronary artery disease risk factors, behavior characteristics and quality of life, and a nearly 50 percent reduction in the prevalence of hostility symptoms.

A peer-review journal, Mayo Clinic Proceedings publishes original articles and reviews dealing with clinical and laboratory medicine, clinical research, basic science research and clinical epidemiology. Mayo Clinic Proceedings is published monthly by Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research as part of its commitment to the medical education of physicians. The journal has been published for more than 75 years and has a circulation of 130,000 nationally and internationally. Copies of the articles are available online at http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com.