Little is known about the perception of lifetime risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Researchers recruited subjects from the Dallas Heart Study, and each subject was classified as high or low for risk of CVD. Subjects were then assessed for their perceived lifetime risk for a myocardial infarction. There was significant discordance between perceived and predicted lifetime risk.
This study examined the relationship between psychological well being (using measures of vitality and optimism) and hypertension, finding that high emotional vitality but not optimism significantly predicted a reduced risk of hypertension.
