Self-reference and coronary heart disease incidence in the Western Collaborative Group Study

Area of Science:

• Psychological research
• Cardiovascular health

Background:

• Prior studies suggested a link between self-reference frequency and coronary heart disease (CHD).
• The Western Collaborative Group Study provided a dataset to test these previous findings in a new population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To replicate previous findings on the association between self-references and coronary heart disease (CHD).
• To investigate if spoken self-reference frequency predicts CHD in a different cohort.

Main Methods:

• A case-control analysis of 750 audiotaped structured interviews from the Western Collaborative Group Study.
• Auditors quantified first-person pronouns (I, me, my) and spoken clauses.
• Matched multiple logistic regression analyses were performed, with and without adjustment for CHD risk factors.

Main Results:

• No significant difference in self-reference frequency or density was found between subjects who incurred CHD and those who did not.
• Individuals with Type A behavior spoke more clauses and self-references but did not show a higher density of self-references compared to Type B individuals.
• The observed association between self-references and CHD risk was not replicated.

Conclusions:

• The findings question the hypothesis that self-reference frequency is associated with coronary heart disease (CHD).
• The methodology used for measuring self-references may need re-evaluation.
• Further research is needed to understand the relationship between psychological factors and cardiovascular health.