Psychosocial variables, age, and angiographically-determined coronary artery disease in women

The present study explored the relationship between psychosocial measures a nd the degree of coronary stenosis in a sample of 59 women between the ages of 39 and 84. Coronary occlusion was correlated with elevated cholesterol and marginally correlated with age and was inversely associated with years of education. Based on hierarchical multiple regression, and interview-base d measure of hostility multiple regression, and interview-based measure of hostility was associated with coronary stenosis after controlling for tradi tional risk factors, and age moderated the hostility-stenosis relationship. Further, a second regression model suggested that trait anxiety was invers ely correlated with degree of occlusion, perhaps because low-anxious women are referred for catheterization later in the course of the disease. Contra ry to hypotheses, there was no evidence that repression of interview-based hostility or anxiety predicted coronary occlusion. Given the small sample s ize, results should be considered preliminary. Future studies should explor e the degree to which anxiety and hostility are associated with coronary he art disease (CHD) in larger samples of women and the degree to which age mo derates the hostility-occlusion association.