The Prognostic Value of Type D Personality in a Romanian Sample of Patients with Coronary Heart Disease

Introduction Lately the contribution of psychological factors to coronary heart disease (CHD), especially those related to personality dimension, has benefited from an increasing recognition by the cardiologists. Objectives This study aimed to evaluate the effect of type D personality on clinical, angiographic and echocardiographic parameters on CHD patients. Material and Methods The current research represents a nonconsecutive 2 year cross-sectional study involving the 161 CHD subjects admitted in Timisoara Institute of Cardiology and 84 controls. DS -14 scale for type D personality was applied to studied subjects. Several clinical, angiographic and echocardiographic data related to cardiac status of CHD patients were recorded. Results The CHD patients with type D personality had a significantly higher Volume of Left Atrium (t = 3.041; p = 0.003), a lower Strain Global Longitudinal (t = 3.264; p = 0.001), a higher Early Diastolic Transmitral Velocity/Early Mitral Annular Diastolic Velocity ratio (t = 5.266; p 2 = 11.508; p = 0.001) and a higher necessity for bypass surgical intervention (? 2 = 5.272; p = 0.022) by comparison with those without type D personality. The Syntax angiographic score of severity had higher mean value in CHD patients with type D personality (t= 5.143; p Conclusions The presence of type D personality in CHD patients proved to be a reliable factor that indicated poor prognosis of disease.