Association of psychosocial traits with coronary artery calcium development and progression: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

Coronary artery calcium (CAC) is a well-established quantifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). We examined the association of anger, hostility, anxiety, and depression with the development and progression of CAC. We studied the association of these psychosocial traits with CAC among participants in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Anger was measured using the Spielberger Trait Anger questionnaire, hostility using a modified Cook-Medley Hostility questionnaire, anxiety using the Spielberger Trait Scale, and depression using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Among the subsample of participants with CAC = 0 at the beginning of the study period, Poisson regression models were used to determine the relative risk of developing CAC>0 over the study period. In the subsample that developed CAC>0, we used linear regression models to estimate the average increase in CAC associated with a unit increase in psychosocial trait. Median time of follow-up was 9.4 years (range 8.0–11.4 years). Cross-sectional analyses at baseline revealed no association of any of the psychosocial traits with the presence or magnitude of CAC (anger: RR 0.98, p