The type A behaviour pattern as a precursor to stressful life-events: a confluence of coronary risks

Both the Type A Behaviour Pattern (TABP) and the presence of stressful life-events have been independently established as precursors to the onset of coronary heart disease (CHD). The thematic character of the TABP suggests, however, that the two phenomena might be linked, to the extent that features of the TABP may place an individual in social, occupational and personal circumstances which enhance the probability of encountering stressful life-events. Evidence from survivors of clinical CHD gives some support to this idea. The present study extends the hypothesis to a large sample of healthy males, screened for CHD risk factors. These results, too, support the idea that the TABP and encounters with stressful life-events are not entirely independent phenomena. Associations between the TABP and a range of measures of life-events were most evident in the occupational aspects of the latter, though not exclusively so. The data do point to the need, in future epidemiological studies of CHD risk, to treat the TABP and stressful life-events as related measures of CHD risk.