[Personality traits (type A) in patients with intermittent claudication. 1. Results of the Bortner test]

It has never been considered whether type A (coronary prone) behavior can also be found in patients with peripheral atherosclerotic disease (intermittent claudication). This question has been studied by means of the 14-item (Bortner) questionnaire. The questionnaire was filled out by 10 patients (self-assessment) with coronary artery disease and intermittend claudication, 13 with intermittent claudication alone and 10 with comparably severe, but not arteriovascular disease and independently by their wives (relative's assessment). In the self-assessment the test discriminated significantly between the three groups (Kruskal-Wallis p less than 0.05). The correlation coefficient (Spearman) between expression of type A behavior and extent of atherosclerosis was 0.3720 (p less than 0.02). In the relative's assessment the groups were also differentiated significantly (Kruskal-Wallis p less than 0.05). The correlation coefficient (Spearman) was 0.4080 (p less than 0.009). The results indicate that patients with intermittent claudication demonstrate a predilection for type A behavior, which is more pronounced in those with additional coronary artery disease. The multiple stepwise regression indicated that type A behavior is related to atherosclerosis independently of other factors.