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The association between depression and coronary heart disease (CHD) has been established. To determine whether emotional vitality decreases the risk for developing CHD, researchers analyzed data from a prospective study of healthy, civilian, noninstitutionalized people. At baseline, a subset of 6265 participants underwent medical evaluation and testing for emotional vitality and was then followed for 15 years.
Emotional vitality was defined as a sense of positive energy, an ability to regulate behavior and emotions, and a feeling of engagement in life. After adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors and history of psychological problems, subjects with the highest level of emotional vitality had 81% of the CHD risk of those with the lowest l…