Personality as predictor of mortality among patients with congestive heart failure: a two-year follow-up study

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of neuroticism upon mortality risk among patients with congestive heart failure. Proportional hazard models were used to evaluate the effect of the enduring personality factor, neuroticism, on mortality among 119 clinically stable patients (71.4% men; mean age 65.7±9.6 years) with symptomatic heart failure, recruited from an outpatient cardiology practice. Twenty deaths were registered during the 24-month period of data collection, all from cardiac causes. Results indicated that neuroticism was an independent predictor of mortality with a hazard ratio of 1.14, P<0.01. Health care professionals should identify CHF patients with a tendency to express high levels of neuroticism and should try to provide appropriate treatment if possible.