Background and aims: The relationship between hostility and the prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) among black adults was investigated using the Jackson Heart Study (JHS) cohort. We hypothesized that Cook-Medley Hostility scores will be positively related with the prevalence of DM.
Methods and results: A total of 3232 black adults who completed at least one question for each of the three subscales of the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale and had data available regarding DM status were included. Using multivariate logistic regression, we studied the cross-sectional relationship between the overall Total Cook-Medley Hostility scores and individual subscales, hostile affect (n = 3232), aggression (n = 3119) and cynical distrust (n = 3085), with prevalent DM, adjusting for known DM confounders. Our population was 36% male with a mean age of 53.5 ± 0.9 years. In risk-factor adjusted models, each point higher in the overall Total Cook-Medley Hostility scores was associated with increased odds of having DM [Adjusted OR 1.02, 95%CI 1.00-1.04, P = 0.03]. Higher scores of cynicism were independently associated with prevalent DM [Adjusted OR 1.04, 95%CI 1.01-1.07, p = 0.021].
Conclusions: There was a positive relationship between overall hostility levels and prevalent DM. Future studies should investigate the extent to which additional social determinants may impact the relationship between hostile affect and prevalent DM.
Keywords: Diabetes; Epidemiological study; Hostility.
Copyright © 2023 The Italian Diabetes Society, the Italian Society for the Study of Atherosclerosis, the Italian Society of Human Nutrition and the Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.