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Psychosocial factors might influence risks for cardiovascular disease and premature death. In this substudy of the Women's Health Initiative, investigators measured optimism and cynical hostility with validated questionnaires in nearly 100,000 women who were free from cancer and heart disease at enrollment.
Compared with pessimists, optimists were younger, reported higher education and income, and were more likely to attend religious services at least once weekly. They were leaner and less likely to be sedentary or to smoke. During 8 years of follow-up and after adjustments for several cofactors, optimists had significantly lower rates of incident heart disease (hazard ratio, 0.91), heart-related mortality (HR, 0.70), and total mortality (HR…