Women who look on the bright side of life have longer and healthier lives than their pessimistic peers, while women who tend not to trust other people die sooner than their less cynical counterparts, a large study of attitudes and health found.
Dr. Hilary Tindle of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and her colleagues analyzed information gathered from more than 97,000 women who did not have heart disease or cancer when they joined the Women's Health Initiative, the massive national trial known for its conclusions on hormone therapy. The women, 50 to 74 years old, answered questionnaires on their attitudes at the start of the trial. Optimists expected good things to happen and cynically hostile women were extremely mistrustful of other people, according to survey definitions.
After eight years, optimistic women had a 14 percent lower risk of dying from any cause than their pessimistic counterparts, according to research Tindle presented last week. Women who scored high on cynical hostility had a 16 percent higher risk of death than their counterparts. These differences were more extreme in black women: optimists had a 44 percent lower risk of cancer-related death and cynically hostile women had a 142 percent higher risk of cancer death.
Tindle said in an interview the study does not say that attitudes cause good health or illness, but the association between them deserves more study, particularly because it held true even when age, education, and income level were factored in.
BOTTOM LINE: Optimistic women were healthier and lived longer lives than pessimists, while cynical hostility was independently associated with higher death rates.
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