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Youthful hostility linked to adult heart disease

By Alan Mozes

Last Updated: 2003-05-26 14:25:17 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children and adolescents who approach the ups and downs of life with a hostile attitude might be at a heightened risk of developing health complications that can progress to adult heart disease, according to U.S. and Finnish researchers.

"There is a need for interventions designed to reduce hostility in young people to prevent the precursors to cardiovascular disease, like obesity or type II diabetes, which has become a huge health problem in children in the U.S.," the study's lead author, Dr. Karen A. Matthews of the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, said in a statement.

Parents, Matthews told Reuters Health, should try to address any conflicts their children might be having in order to ease hostile feelings.

Among the children and teens her team studied, the researchers found that anger, cynicism and aggression were associated with several cardiovascular risk factors, including obesity, high blood pressure and a condition called insulin resistance that can be a precursor to type 2 diabetes.

Such chronic conditions -- grouped together under the heading of "metabolic syndrome" -- have been shown to promote cardiovascular disease, the researchers note.

Matthews and her colleagues examined 134 children and adolescents in the Pittsburgh area who had no history of heart disease, mental illness or drug and alcohol abuse. The children were between the ages of 8 and 10, while the adolescents were between 15 and 17. The participants were divided roughly equally between male and female, and black and white.

Blood samples -- to assess the presence of the metabolic syndrome factors -- were drawn at the start of the study, and then again three years later. The children also underwent psychological testing to measure hostility levels.

Children and adolescents who had a clean bill of health at the start of the study but who had high hostility levels were more likely than other children to develop at least two components of the metabolic syndrome during the next three years, the researchers found.

Hostility was most strongly associated with the later development of obesity and insulin resistance, Matthews and her team report in the May issue of Health Psychology.

The researchers stress that the study did not explore all the variables that might contribute to hostile attitudes or to the development of the metabolic syndrome among young people.

For example, they suggest that future studies might focus on the role played by hormonal changes during puberty. They also note that diet, unhealthy lifestyle, stress and poverty might all have an impact on the association between hostility and heart disease.

Still, the authors conclude that taking steps to reduce kids' hostility -- in conjunction with promoting other lifestyle changes -- might end up reducing the risk of future heart disease.

"Parents can encourage their children to avoid over-eating (and to) exercise, and discuss areas of conflict as a way to prevent the development of the metabolic syndrome," Matthews told Reuters Health.

Copyright 2002 Reuters.