Impatient, Hostile Men Are At Higher Risk for Hypertension

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Impatient and hostile young men run a higher risk of developing

high blood pressure than others 15 years down the road, a study

found.

" The notion that a Type A behavior pattern is bad for your health has been

around for many years, " said Barbara Alving, acting director of the National

Heart, Blood and Lung Institute, which funded the study. " This study helps

us understand which aspects of that behavior pattern may be unhealthy. "

The study of 3,308 black and white men found that higher levels of

impatience and hostility were " significantly associated " with developing

hypertension 15 years later. No consistent pattern was found for another

Type A characteristic -- striving for achievement or competitiveness -- or

for depression and anxiety.

The men in the study were 18 to 30 when it started in 1985 and were followed

through 2000 or 2001. Fifteen percent of them developed high blood pressure

by ages 33 to 45, the study said. The stronger the impatience or hostility,

the higher the risk, it said.

The research, done at Northwestern University in Chicago, the University of

Alabama at Birmingham and the Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center,

was published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association.