Type A and Type D Personality in Cardiovascular Health: A Narrative Review

This narrative review critically summarizes the literature on the associations of Type A and Type D personality, together with related personality traits, with cardiovascular disease (CVD) onset, prognosis, cardiac surgery, and rehabilitation outcomes. For the past half a century, there has been a consistent interest in the question of whether or not there is a connection between personality qualities and CVD. At the same time as individuals with a Type A personality who were angry, competitive, and excessively motivated were overrepresented among patients seeking treatment for CVD, it was also noted that these individuals were more likely to acquire coronary artery disease or syndrome. Anger and animosity were among the unfavorable impacts that were found to be connected with worse cardiovascular outcomes, according to the findings of research. After that, a new personality entity was brought into existence, which was referred to as the type D "distressed" personality. This personality type coupled negative affectivity and social inhibition. Type D personality subsequently became a major focus of research, and several studies reported associations with poorer patient-reported health and adverse cardiac outcomes. However, these findings have not been consistently replicated, and the stability, incremental predictive value, and independence of Type D personality from depression, disease severity, and other psychosocial factors remain debated. As a result, there are a number of criticisms that pertain to the current knowledge of the connection between personality construct and the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases as well as the outcome of these diseases. This review provides a critical narrative synthesis of supportive and conflicting evidence and highlights the methodological limitations that currently prevent definitive causal or prognostic conclusions.