Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Is Associated with Increased Mortality in Stable Outpatients with Elevated B-Type Natriuretic Peptide

Abstract

a categorical variable of low (10-14), moderate (15-21) and high (22-40) trait anger. Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was used to determine the relative hazard of HF across categories of anger proneness. Results: High trait anger was associated with increased age-adjusted incidence of heart failure (Figure 1). During the median 14.5 years of follow-up, the age, gender, and race adjusted risk of incident HF among those with high as compared to low trait anger (Hazard Ratio, HR51.48 [95% CI 1.25, 1.76]) was attenuated in analyses adjusted for education and median household income (HR 5 1.39 [95% CI 1.16, 1.66]). Adjustment for depression further attenuated estimates to statistically non-significant levels. The average number of hospital readmissions post incident HF event increased from 4.7 for those with low or moderate anger to 5.9 for those with high anger (p!0.05). Conclusions: In this bi-racial cohort, anger proneness was associated with increased incidence of HF and an increased number of hospital readmissions among individuals with HF. This study suggests that evaluating personality traits is important for individuals at risk for HF and those with HF.