Personality patterns and life stress in ischemic cerebrovascular disease. 1. Psychiatric findings.

Abstract

The personality, life stress and affect at onset of illness of white men hospitalized for transient cerebral ischemia and cerebral infarction were compared with those of control subjects admitted to the hospital for acute nonvascular illnesses. A "pressure pattern" of behavior characterized by aggressiveness, ambition and striving for achievement appeared to be the predominant personality feature among patients with cerebrovascular disease who had a history of myocardial infarction or angina pectoris. There was also some evidence that an unpleasant affective state prior to the onset of stroke occurred more frequently in men with combined coronary and cerebrovascular disease than in those without such a history or in control subjects. No relationship was found between personality features and attributes such as hypertension, age, cigarette smoking or education. These findings suggest that certain behavioral features in patients with coronary heart disease should be considered as risk factors in the development of cerebral ischemia or infarction.