Time urgency and risk of non-fatal myocardial infarction

Background Inconsistencies in the literature linking Type A behaviour patte rn (TAB) to coronary heart disease (CHD) may be due to differences in the e ffects of various components of TAB, namely aggressiveness, hostility, ambi tiousness, competitive drive, and a chronic sense of time urgency. Methods We investigated the association between sense of time urgency/impat ience and non-fatal myocardial infarction (Mf) in a study of 340 cases and an equal number of age-, sex-, and community-matched controls. Results A dose-response relation was apparent among subjects who rated them selves higher on the four-item time urgency/impatience scale (P-value for t rend <0.001), with a matched odds ratio (OR) for non-fatal MI of 4.45 (95% CI : 2.20-8.99) comparing those with the highest rating to those with the l owest. After further adjustment for family history of premature MI, physica l activity body mass index, occupation, cigarette smoking, total caloric in take, per cent calories from saturated fat, alcohol intake, lipid levels, t reated hypertension and diabetes, the dose-response relation remained (P-va lue for trend = 0.015) and the adjusted OR for MI was 3.99 (95% CI : 1.32-1 2.0) comparing those with the highest rating to those with the lowest. Conclusion In these data, a sense of time urgency/impatience was associated with a dose-response increase in risk of non-fatal MI, independent of othe r risk factors. Prospective cohort studies of time urgency/impatience and i ncident CHD events are needed to confirm or refute these observations from a case-control study.