Objective: Distressed ('Type D') personality is associated with adverse health outcomes in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD). While personality traits from the Five-Factor Model are related to cognitive functioning, neither Type D personality nor its underlying traits negative affectivity (NA) and social inhibition (SI) have been investigated regarding cognition. We therefore compared the predictive value of Type D classification and its subcomponents NA and SI on planning performance in individuals with and without CVD.
Methods: Type D personality traits (DS14) were determined in a population-based sample of 4026 participants (including 549 with CVD) aged 40-80years from the Gutenberg Health Study (GHS) and related to planning performance as assessed with the Tower of London task. Current depression and anxiety were controlled as state variables.
Results: Type D personality status was negatively associated with planning performance in the CVD patient group only (p<0.001) but had no impact in the non-CVD group (p=0.40). In the overall sample, NA was negatively and SI positively associated with planning performance. No differential effect on planning between groups was found for depression and anxiety.
Conclusion: While the subcomponents NA and SI in the population-based sample confirm and extend previous research on personality traits and cognition, Type D personality classification in combination with CVD emerged as a risk factor for decreased cognitive functioning, independent of depression and anxiety. These findings implicate the need to early focus on individual differences in cognitive functioning in patients with CVD.
Keywords: Cardiovascular disease; Gutenberg Health Study (GHS); Negative affectivity; Social inhibition; Tower of London; Type D personality.
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