Low conscientiousness and risk of all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer mortality over 17 years: Whitehall II cohort study.

Archive ouverte

Hagger-Johnson, Gareth | Sabia, Séverine | Nabi, Hermann | Brunner, Eric | Kivimaki, Mika | Shipley, Martin | Singh-Manoux, Archana

Edité par CCSD ; Elsevier -

International audience. To examine the personality trait conscientiousness as a risk factor for mortality and to identify candidate explanatory mechanisms. Participants in the Whitehall II cohort study (N=6800, aged 34 to 55 at recruitment in 1985) completed two self-reported items measuring conscientiousness in 1991-1993 ('I am overly conscientious' and 'I am overly perfectionistic', Cronbach's α=.72), the baseline for this study. Age, socio-economic status (SES), social support, health behaviours, physiological variables and minor psychiatric morbidity were also recorded at baseline. The vital status of participants was then monitored for a mean of 17 years. All-cause and cause-specific mortality was ascertained through linkage to a national mortality register until January 2010. Each 1 standard deviation decrease in conscientiousness was associated with a 10% increase in all-cause (hazard ratio [HR]=1.10, 95% CI 1.003, 1.20) mortality. Patterns were similar for cardiovascular (HR=1.17, 95% CI 0.98, 1.39) and cancer mortality (HR=1.10, 95% CI 0.96, 1.25), not reaching statistical significance. The association with all-cause mortality was attenuated by 5% after adjustment for SES, 13% for health behaviours, 14% for cardiovascular risk factors, 5% for minor psychiatric morbidity, 29% for all variables. Repeating analyses with each item separately and excluding participants who died within five years of personality assessment did not change the results materially. Low conscientiousness in midlife is a risk factor for all-cause mortality. This association is only partly explained by health behaviours, SES, cardiovascular disease risk factors and minor psychiatric morbidity in midlife.

Suggestions

Du même auteur

Combined impact of smoking and heavy alcohol use on cognitive decline in early old age: Whitehall II prospective cohort study.

Archive ouverte | Hagger-Johnson, Gareth | CCSD

International audience. Identifying modifiable risk factors for cognitive decline may inform prevention of dementia. To examine the combined impact of cigarette smoking and heavy alcohol consumption on cognitive dec...

Impact of smoking on cognitive decline in early old age: the Whitehall II cohort study.

Archive ouverte | Sabia, Séverine | CCSD

International audience. CONTEXT: Smoking is a possible risk factor for dementia, although its impact may have been underestimated in elderly populations because of the shorter life span of smokers. OBJECTIVE: To exa...

Social inequality in walking speed in early old age in the Whitehall II study.

Archive ouverte | Brunner, Eric | CCSD

International audience. We investigated social inequalities in walking speed in early old age. Walking speed was measured by timed 8-ft (2.44 m) test in 6,345 individuals, with mean age of 61.1 (SD 6.0) years. Curre...

Chargement des enrichissements...