Pessimism doesn't just make you a downer to be around – it can also increase your risk of death from coronary heart disease.

A completed 11-year study released by BioMed Public Health measured the optimism and pessimism of 2,267 men and women 52 to 76 years old. After adjusting for outside medical factors, the researchers found that those who died of coronary heart disease were more pessimistic than the average baseline.

Coronary heart disease is still the leading cause of mortality in industrialized countries, despite growing knowledge of its risk factors and the treatments available. According to the latest statistics, it causes about 200 deaths per 100,000 people annually.

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