(RxWiki News) Having a positive attitude about your coronary heart disease treatment and recovery can improve your outcome by as much as a 30 percent. This is according to a Duke University study that looked at patients with coronary heart disease.
Duke researchers gave each of the 2818 heart disease patients a survey assessing the patients’ own belief about how quickly, easily, and completely the patient believed they would recuperate and get back to normal.
The study looked at survival rates one year later and again after 15 years and found that those patients who had the most positive, optimistic outlooks about their progress and recovery were 30 percent less likely to have died in the 15 years since the study began.
“The results of the study seem interesting, and add to the significant body of literature that correlates positive mental attitude with improved health outcomes,” added Dr. Joseph Madia.
Research predicts costs for heart disease will rise from $273 billion to $818 billion, based on 2008 dollar values, in the next 20 years. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and accounts for 17 percent of overall national health expenditures.
The study was conducted with grants from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
