Hostility and myocardial infarction in men.

This case-control study examines the association of hostility (as measured by the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale) with myocardial infarction in adult males from The Netherlands. Subjects included patients with first myocardial infarction (MI; N = 81), who were compared with a neighbourhood control (NC) group (N = 168). Cases had somewhat higher scores on the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale, although the differences between cases and controls were not statistically significant. Multivariate analysis revealed the presence of an interaction between hostility and age, suggesting that the association of hostility with MI is age-dependent. The results indicate that hostility only constitutes a risk indicator for first MI in men who are younger than 50 yr of age.