The Association Between Trait Anger and Incident Stroke Risk

Background and Purpose — This study examined the relation between trait anger and incident stroke risk among participants without a history of stroke at the first follow-up examination of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. Methods — The study sample included 13 851 black and white men and women, aged 48 to 67 years, who completed the Spielberger Trait Anger Scale. Median follow-up time was 77.3 months. Results — In the full cohort, Cox proportional hazards regression analyses showed a modest increase in the risk for stroke among individuals with high trait anger, though the association did not remain statistically significant after multivariate adjustment. Participants ≤60 years of age who reported having high trait anger had a 2.82 (95% CI, 1.65 to 4.80) times greater risk for hemorrhagic and ischemic strokes combined (any) and a 2.93 (95% CI, 1.64 to 5.22) times greater risk for ischemic strokes alone than their counterparts who reported having low trait anger (hazard rate ratios adjusted for sex and race/ethnicity). Similarly, among participants with HDL cholesterol levels >47, the risk for any stroke was 2.86 (95% CI, 1.56 to 5.25) times greater for those who reported having high trait anger, whereas the risk for ischemic strokes alone was 2.98 (95% CI, 1.58 to 5.61) times greater (hazard rate ratios adjusted for age, sex, and race/ethnicity). These associations remained strong and statistically significant after further adjustment for several established biological and sociodemographic risk factors for stroke and were absent among older participants and those with lower HDL cholesterol values. Conclusions — Trait anger was associated with an increased risk for incident stroke in the ARIC study among younger participants and those with higher HDL cholesterol levels.