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Biomedical subjects

R H Rosenman

Publications and source records attributed to R H Rosenman.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

The Rationality/Emotional Defensiveness Scale--II. Convergent and discriminant correlational analysis in males and females with and without cancer.

The psychological correlates of the Rationality/Emotional Defensiveness Scale and its two subscales were examined in 1236 males and 863 females from the Western Collaborative Group Study. An additional 157 males and 164 females with some form of cancer other than of the skin were also included in this analysis. Characteristics measured included self-reported emotional control, anger expression, trait personality, depressive and neurotic symptomatology, Type A behavior, hostility, and social desirability. Results indicate that the Rationality/Emotional Defensiveness Scale is most strongly related to the suppression and control of emotions, especially anger. Scores on this scale also tend to be associated with less Type A behavior and hostility and with more social conformity. Analysis of the component subscale suggests that Antiemotionality, i.e. the extent to which an individual uses reason and logic to avoid interpersonally related emotions, is most strongly marked by the control of anger, while Rationality, i.e. the extent to which an individual uses reason and logic as a general approach to coping with the environment, is related to the control of anxiety and a higher level of trait curiosity. The psychological interpretation of the scale appears to be largely invariant across gender, unaffected by residualization of the total scale score for its association with Social Desirability, and, except for a few minor instances, unrelated to the diagnosis of cancer.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

Effects of placentation on selected Type A behaviors in adult males in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) twin study.

A dermatoglyphic index derived from monozygotic (MZ) twins of known placental type was used to estimate placentation retrospectively in a sample of adult male MZ twins. Examination of behavioral test scores with respect to placentation showed that the within-pair difference of most measures of type A behavior was smaller in presumed monochorionic than presumed dichorionic pairs. Measures of cognitive function and hostility were not related to placental type. Intraclass correlations in the monochorionic subgroup of MZ twins were greater than the correlations reported for the full sample of MZ twins. The trends were strongest for the Adjective Check List scales taken at two different exams 5 years apart and, to a lesser extent, for the Framingham type A scale. Our results are most consistent with greater intrauterine environmental covariance in monochorionic MZ twins as an explanation for inflation of the MZ twin correlation relative to dizygotic (DZ) correlation reported for some type A measures.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

The Rationality/Emotional Defensiveness Scale--I. Internal structure and stability.

In a 10-year prospective study, Grossarth-Maticek and colleagues reported that the tendency to repress and/or deny emotions was strongly predictive of cancer mortality. The method used to assess repression/denial was modified recently by Spielberger to form the Rationality/Emotional Defensiveness (R/ED) Scale. The present study investigates the psychometric properties of the R/ED Scale in 1236 male (mean age = 71.8 yr) and 863 female (mean age = 68.5 yr) participants in a 27-year follow-up of the Western Collaborative Group Study. Analyses revealed high interitem consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.77 and 0.78 for men and women, respectively) and two independent and stable factors that we labeled 'Anti-emotionality' (27% of total variance) and 'Rationality' (21% of total variance). Excluding cancer subjects, significant gender differences were observed for individual items, total R/ED score, and the two subscales. Comparisons of the 159 male cancer patients and the 175 female cancer patients with the corresponding noncancer subjects suggest possible gender x cancer status and age x cancer status interactions. These results challenge Grossarth-Maticek's assertion that rationality/anti-emotionality is a unidimensional construct and indicate the need to take into account the effect of age and gender on the presence of these psychological constructs.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

27-year mortality in the Western Collaborative Group Study: construction of risk groups by recursive partitioning.

The relationship of selected biological and behavioral characteristics measured at baseline examination to 27-year mortality due to coronary heart disease (CHD), cancers of all sites, and total mortality in the 3154 men that form the Western Collaborative Group Study was investigated using tree-structured survival analysis or recursive partitioning (RP). Intake (1960-61) characteristics included in the present analyses were age, serum cholesterol, systolic blood pressure (SBP), cigarette smoking, body mass index (BMI), Type A/B behavior, and behavioral hostility. Tree-structured survival analysis for CHD mortality partitioned the cohort into six groups and identified five groups with distinct survival experience. Exceptionally high CHD mortality rates (17.3 and 14.6 per thousand) were experienced by 89 older men with elevated hostility ratings and SBP less than or equal to 150, and 238 men whose initial SBP was greater than 150 mmHg. Younger men (age less than or equal to 48) with SBP less than or equal to 150 and with serum cholesterol levels greater than 227 had a death rate of 4.8 per thousand, compared with a rate of 1.7 in similar men with lower cholesterol levels. Applied to 27-year cancer mortality, the RP algorithm partitioned the cohort into four distinct survival groups. Younger (age less than 45) Type B men had superior survival compared with Type A men of similar ages, and the proportion of ever cigarette smokers in these two groups was not statistically different. The results obtained by tree-structured survival analyses were compared with results obtained by Cox regression survival analyses.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Longitudinal changes in fat distribution in the Western Collaborative Group Study: a 23-year follow-up.

Anthropometric measurements for a total of 1,150 surviving subjects aged 65-86 and examined twice 23 years apart were analyzed with the following objectives: (1) to determine longitudinal changes on a large battery of anthropometric measures, (2) to examine the persistence of individual differences in the distribution of fat and relative weight, and (3) to investigate the relationship between changes in weight and changes in fat distribution. Significant changes toward an increase in size with age were observed in younger subjects below the age of 50 when first examined. In older subjects, age greater than or equal to 50, we observed a decrease in stature of 1.2 cm per decade, an overall decrease in weight of 1.6 kg, and no significant changes in trunk skinfold thickness. Longitudinal changes were most pronounced in the redistribution of fat and were also independent of weight changes. The relationships between measures of abdominal fat and overall obesity were stronger at follow-up than 23 years earlier.

Adipose Tissue↗
PubMed1990

Smoking and alcohol consumption in adult male twins: genetic heritability and shared environmental influences.

This paper examines the heritability of cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption in 360 adult, male twin pair participants (176 monozygotic and 184 dizygotic pairs) in the second exam of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Twin Study. Heritability estimates for smoking and alcohol use were calculated both before and after adjustment for shared variance between these behaviors and other characteristics, including coffee consumption, contact between twins, and two psychological traits: anger and activity. The purpose of the analysis was to determine the impact of adjustment for covariates on heritability estimates of smoking and alcohol use. Before adjustment, heritability of both smoking and alcohol use was highly significant and accounted for 52% and 60% of the variance, respectively. After adjustment for covariates, the heritability of smoking remained at 52% while that for alcohol use decreased to 43%. The fact that these estimates remained significant after adjustment for covariates leads to increased confidence about the role of genetics in both smoking and alcohol consumption.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

Psychological correlates of two measures of coronary-prone hostility.

The psychological correlates of the Cook and Medley Hostility (Ho) Scale and independent behavioral ratings of hostility were compared in a sample of adult, middle-aged male participants from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Twin Study. Although the Ho Scale and behavioral ratings of hostility purport to measure the same construct, the underlying correlational pattern for each was quite different. Scores on the Ho Scale were associated positively with anxiety, neuroticism, and the tendency to "fake good"; behavioral hostility was related to measures of dominance, vigor, and self-confidence. Some correlates, such as the hard-driving and speed and impatience subscales from the Jenkins Activity Survey, represent a core set of correlates common to both. The meaning of hostility must be clarified before this construct's link to coronary heart disease can be defined.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Results of the multicenter antihypertensive treatment trials. Therapeutic implications and the role of the sympathetic nervous system.

The results of 19 antihypertensive treatment trials spanning some 20 years of research showed that treatment had significant benefits for pressure-related complications of hypertension but generally did not prevent coronary artery disease morbidity or mortality. As possible reasons for this relative failure were explored, new emphasis was placed on the role of the sympathetic nervous system in the vascular complications of hypertension. Most risk factors for coronary artery disease strongly involve the sympathetic nervous system, which may be the final common pathway for their adverse effects. The antihypertensive drugs used in most of the large clinical trials were associated with enhanced sympathetic activity. Moreover, excessive sodium depletion caused by large doses of diuretics and dietary low-sodium intake may have contributed to the treatment's ineffectiveness in preventing primary coronary disease. The implications of the research for antihypertensive treatment are discussed, with an emphasis on the physiologically appropriate role of clonidine therapy.

Antihypertensive Agents↗
PubMed1978

Coronary-prone behavior: one pattern or several?

A cohort of 2750 healthy men who responded to a 61-item questionnaire was studied prospectively for 4 years, by which time 67 sustained acute myocardial infarctions (AMI), 30 were discovered by ECG to have had myocardial infarctions, which had gone clinically unrecognized ("silent") (SMI), and 23 had developed classical angina pectoris without ECG changes indicative of infarction. Item analysis of the questionnaire using multi-group optimal scaling and discriminant function revealed the patterns of responses to be characteristically different among the three clinical presentations of coronary disease and those men who remained healthy. The psychological properties of the three significant dimensions of discrimination are discussed. A second study, involving largely healthy men from the same population, supported the inference that the dimensions isolated were statistically and psychologically genuine. The implication is that different facets of the coronary-prone Type A behavior pattern may be specifically associated with different clinical manifestation of coronary disease. Refinement of these dimensions may lead to more specific prediction of coronary disease risk in the future.

Angina Pectoris↗
PubMed1978

Heritability of type A behavior.

Ninety-three pairs of monozygotic and 97 pairs of dizygotic middle-aged, American, male twins were studied to estimate the heritability of Type A behavior--a coronary heart disease-prone behavior pattern. Participants were given the interview assessment of Type A behavior. In addition, they completed four psychological test batteries: the Thurstone Temperament Schedule, the Jenkins Activity Survey, the California Psychological Inventory, and the Gough Adjective Check List. Type A behavior measured by interview was found to be nonheritable. Psychological test scales which significantly correlated with Type A behavior, however, generally had significant heritability estimates. Only the Adjective Check List scales, which significantly correlated with Type A, showed nonsignificant heritability estimates. Selected items from these Adjective Check List scales may provide a method for assessment of Type A behavior possibly free from genetic influence.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

A 4-year prospective study of the relationship of different habitual vocational physical activity to risk and incidence of ischemic heart disease in volunteer male federal employees.

A prospective study of coronary heart disease (CHD) was done in 2,635 volunteer male federal employees of postal, health, aerospace, and other agencies, aged 35--59 years at intake. The present analysis is concerned with 2,065 initially well whites, of whom 65 suffered clinical CHD during a 4 years of annual follow-up. The subjects differed markedly in their levels of habitual vocational physical activity, which is classified (1) by division into sedentary, moderate, and heavy activity groups, (2) by blue collar or white collar type of occupation, and (3) by calculated annual caloric expenditure for both vocational and non-vocational physical activities. Intake variables that were studied in relation to physical activity and the CHD incidence include age, serum cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, relative body weight, ECG abnormality, and cigarette smoking. Socioeconomic status (SES) is assessed by levels of education and income and by a combined SES categorization based upon both. Estimated composite CHD risk scores are based upon Framingham equations. The CHD risk factors, singly, as well as in a derived composite risk score, are higher for men with heavy compared to sedentary or moderate habitual physical activity. However, this is a spurious association found to be induced by differences of SES. Thus, when physical activity and SES are studied in a concurrent analysis, a higher CHD risk is significantly associated with lower SES status but not with differences of vocational physical activity. The CHD incidence in this population is studied in relationship both to the risk factors and physical activity by multivariate analysis, using the multiple logistic risk model. The incidence of CHD is significantly associated with age, serum cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, and cigarette smoking. It is not found to be associated with the type of occupation (i.e., blue or white collar), the level of reported habitual vocational physical activity, or the calculated total vocational plus nonvocational caloric expenditure in physical activity.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Multivariate prediction of coronary heart disease during 8.5 year follow-up in the Western Collaborative Group Study.

The Western Collaborative Group Study is a prospective study of 3,154 employed men aged 39 to 59 years. Ischemic heart disease occurred in 257 subjects during 8.5 years of follow-up. Risk of coronary heart disease was studied with use of the multiple logistic risk model. The incidence of coronary heart disease had a highly significant association with serum cholesterol level, behavior pattern, cigarette smoking and systolic blood pressure in younger (39 to 49 years) and older (50 to 59 years) men and also with age and corneal arcus in the younger group. Type A behavior pattern was strongly related to the incidence of coronary disease in both age groups, independent of interrelations of behavior patterns with any other risk factor.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Genetic variance in blood pressure.

The National Heart and Lung Institute Twin Study has examined 514 white adult male twin sets aged 42-56 with respect to blood pressure. The data were analyzed by a method of Christian et al. which eliminates possible biases in estimated genetic variances that could result from different total variances in MZ and DZ twins. Results of the test for the presence of genetic variance indicate that both systolic and diastolic blood pressure are to a considerable extent genetically controlled with an estimated heritability of 0.8 for systolic and 0.6 for diastolic pressure. Although these findings are at variance with some previous reports, it is thought that much of the discrepancy results from application of different analytic techniques, not in the data themselves. The application of these findings to our understanding of hypertension epidemiology and community hypertension control programs are discussed.

Adult↗