Study on relationship of type A personality of twins with hypertension and biochemical index in serum

  Objective   To study on the relationship of type A personality of twin serum biochemical index of hypertension.

  Methods   89 twin pairs (MZ: 55, DZ: 34) older than 24 in Qingdao was investigated with genetic epidemiological methods. Type A personality of the twins was tested to study the correlation of the scores in MZ and DZ twins, so that the effect of genetic and environmental factors on type A personality can be studied. The relationship between type A personality and hypertension, type A personality and some serum biochemical index were also discussed.

  Results   Significant agreement of type A personality in MZ twins was found (P < 0.001), such agreement was not found in DZ twins (P=0.802). Also agreement of type A personality and hyper tension was significant in MZ (P < 0.001), not significant in DZ (P=0.102). The systolic blood pressure (SBP) was higher for twins with type A personality than non-A personality twins. Some serum biochemical index was correlated with type A personality, but most of the correlation coefficients were lower than 0.30.

  Conclusion   A greement of type A personality and hypertension was significant in MZ, not significant in DZ. Type A personality was a risk factor for hypertension. The correlation between type A personality and basic serum biochemical index was weak.