The association between spouse-reported Type A behaviour pattern and coronary heart disease.

This paper describes further validation of the Spouse-Report Type A Behaviour Pattern Questionnaire. In a case controlled study of 61 cardiac patients versus 61 community controls, the questionnaire was found to discriminate statistically between a group of patients with proven coronary heart disease and a group of matched healthy controls on the anger/hostility subscale and total Type A score. No relationship between Type A score and coronary heart disease severity was found. Possible explanations for these findings are examined.