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'Type A' Bypass Patients Often Thrive

Posted on: Thursday, 8 March 2007, 06:00 CST

By Marilyn Elias

Those who run on a deadline-packed, stressful life path before heart bypass surgery may live longer after the operation than patients with lower-key lives, a surprising study suggests today.

People who faced time pressures were nearly twice as likely to be alive six years later than those without such pressure; life stress also correlated with longer survival, says study leader Leo Pozuelo, a psychiatrist at the Cleveland Clinic.

Although it's often assumed that stress and hurrying are bad for the heart, "these may be people with lots of social contact" who have less depression or loneliness, Pozuelo says. Sadness before surgery was most likely to shorten life, he'll tell the American Psychosomatic Society meeting in Budapest. The findings add to growing evidence that heart patients survive longer if they're not depressed, he says.

Before surgery, 4,166 patients were asked questions such as whether they had experienced significant stress, time pressure or sadness before entering the hospital. Then researchers tracked who died within six years.

Some cardiac experts believe time-pressured "Type A" types may be better than lower-key patients at taking care of themselves after a heart bypass.

"They get the frying-pan whack over the head, and their great energy transfers over to self-care," says psychologist Shari Waldstein of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.

But Waldstein also says patients who have stress and deadlines may be more likely to be employed, and less disabled, than those who are not under the gun. The research took into account many health risks but not employment, Pozuelo says.

The link between shorter life and sadness fits with another Duke University study that found shorter survival for depressed bypass patients. The new study suggests bypass patients should heed their moods, Pozuelo says.

"After the recovery period, they need social stimulation and activities," he says. "They shouldn't let feelings of sadness go on without getting treatment."

Source: USA TODAY

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