In Brief

Self-Rated Cardiovascular Risk and 15-Year Cardiovascular Mortality

Robert Gramling , and colleagues

Background Many people believe they have a low risk of cardiovascular disease, but little is known about the long-term results of such optimistic beliefs. In this study, researchers evaluate whether lower self-ratings of cardiovascular disease risk are related to lower rates of death from cardiovascular disease.

What This Study Found Men (but not women) who rate their 5-year risk of having a stroke or heart attack as "low" go on to have a lower-than-expected rate of death from cardiovascular disease in the next 15 years. Analyzing data from 2,816 adults, researchers found that men who rated their cardiovascular disease risk as lower than other men of their age had nearly a three times lower incidence of death from cardiovascular disease compared with all others.

Implications

• For men, optimistic perceptions of health risk leads to health benefits.
• A message about cardiovascular disease risk from a trusted doctor is likely to have a more long-lasting effect on patients’ self-ratings of risk of cardiovascular disease than messages from less trusted sources.