Independent Associations Between Trait-Anger, Depressive Symptoms and Preclinical Atherosclerotic Progression

Previous research from our group found that recent depressive symptoms were associated with 3-year change in carotid intima-media thickness (CA-IMT), a biomarker of cardiovascular disease risk, in an initially healthy sample of older adults. Trait measures of anxiety, anger, and hostility did not predict 3-year CA-IMT progression in that report.

The current study sought to reexamine these associations at a 6-year follow-up point.

Two-hundred seventy-eight participants (151 males, mean age = 60.68 years) from the original sample completed an additional IMT reading 6 years following the initial baseline assessment.

Though not significant at 3-years, trait-anger emerged as a predictor of IMT progression at the 6-year point. When examined in separate regression models, both depression and trait-anger (but not anxiety or hostility) predicted 6-year IMT change (b = .017, p = .002; b = .029, p = .01, respectively). When examined concurrently, both depression and anger were independently associated with 6-year IMT progression (b = .016, p = .010, b = .028, p = .022, respectively). Exploratory analyses suggest that the relative contributions of anger and depression may differ for males and females.

The use of sequential follow-ups is relatively unique in this literature, and our results suggest a need for further research on the timing and duration of psychosocial risk exposures in early stages of cardiovascular disease.