Association of Type D personality with cardiovascular disease and its prognosis

Objective: To evaluate the association of Type D personality with cardiovascular disease and its prognosis. Methodology: This cross sectional study study was conducted in cardiology department of MBBS medical college Mirpur, from February 2019 to February 2020 in a period of one year. A total of 281 patients with cardiovascular diseases were included. Demographic information and risk factors were noted. Screening for metabolic syndrome was done using international diabetes federation criteria based upon central obesity. The assessment of type D personality was made through DS-14, type D scale, which is the most widely used instrument for type D personality measurement. In which all the 14 items are score on a 5-point Likert scale. Results: There were 77 (27.40%) patients having type D personality, with significantly less mean age (45.36 ± 6.2 vs. 53.45 ± 9.6) in comparison to patients without type D personality. No significant (p-value > 0.05) difference was noted in gender, education, occupation and marital status of the patients having type D personality. The rate of diabetes mellitus (44.46% vs. 37.25%), hypertension (59.74% vs. 47.06%), smoking status (62.34% vs. 53.43%) and metabolic syndrome (48.05% vs. 40.69%) were similar in both groups. The mean values of systolic (124.53 ± 12.35 vs. 116.28 ± 14.30, p-value = 0.000) and diastolic (78.44 ± 6.92 vs. 74.62 ± 7.48, p-value = 0.0001) blood pressure were significantly higher in patients having type D personality. Conclusions: A considerable number of cardiac patients in our study had type D personality trait. This trait was more common in younger age and male patients showing raised levels of blood pressure and HDL cholesterol. Key words: Cardiovascular disease, Type D personality, low HDL cholesterol, Prognosi