Hot-tempered individuals who blow their top at the slightest provocation may have a higher risk of coronary heart disease than their less anger-prone peers who react angrily only in certain circumstances, such as when they are criticized or treated unfairly.

The implications of this study are that having a personality trait, such as proneness to anger, can place a person at high risk for heart disease and can be as detrimental as having high blood pressure.

The findings are based on data collected over an average 4.5 year period from nearly 13,000 middle-aged men and women.

Six percent of the individuals studied said they had a strong, angry temperament. Among those with a strong temper, individuals with normal blood pressure had a slightly more than twofold greater risk of heart disease than their less anger-prone peers.

These findings suggest that it is the intense, volatile aspect of proneness to anger that has the more catastrophic consequences for cardiovascular health; thus, it is angry temperament, not angry reaction, that is the more potent link to coronary heart disease.

American Journal of Epidemiology August 1, 2001;154:230-235