Effects of Exercise on the Type A (Coronary Prone) Behavior Pattern1

&NA; This study presents the initial findings of an attempt to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in a group of health, middle‐aged adults by participation in a ten‐week, supervised exercise program. Forty‐six subjects were classified as Type A or Type B based on their scores on the Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS). Measures of physiologic (blood pressure, serum lipids, body weight, plasminogen activator release, and treadmill performance) and psychologic (scores on the JAS) variables were obtained before and after the exercise program. Subjects were able to successfully reduce the physiologic cardiovascular risk factors. Moreover, Type A subjects lowered their scores on the JAS Type A scale after training, while the scores of the Type B subjected remained unchanged. It is concluded that a supervised program of regular exercise can successfully modify the physiological and psychological variables associated with increased risk for CHD in a nonclinical sample of healthy adults.

[1]  R. Rahe,et al.  Brief Group Therapy in Myocardial Infarction Rehabilitation: Three‐ to Four‐Year Follow‐Up of a Controlled Trial* , 1979, Psychosomatic medicine.

[2]  J. Blumenthal,et al.  Type A Behavior Pattern and Coronary Atherosclerosis , 1978, Circulation.

[3]  S. Zyzanski,et al.  Coronary‐Prone Behavior: One Pattern or Several , 1978, Psychosomatic medicine.

[4]  S. Zyzanski Coronary-Prone Behavior Pattern and Coronary Heart Disease: Epidemiological Evidence , 1978 .

[5]  J. Clausen,et al.  Effect of physical training on cardiovascular adjustments to exercise in man. , 1977, Physiological reviews.

[6]  M. Lopes-Virella,et al.  Cholesterol determination in high-density lipoproteins separated by three different methods. , 1977, Clinical chemistry.

[7]  S B Hulley,et al.  Distribution of triglyceride and total, LDL and HDL cholesterol in several populations: a cooperative lipoprotein phenotyping study. , 1977, Journal of chronic diseases.

[8]  T. Ryan,et al.  Psychological correlates of coronary angiographic findings. , 1976, Archives of internal medicine.

[9]  W. Haskell,et al.  The distribution of plasma lipoproteins in middle-aged male runners. , 1976, Metabolism: clinical and experimental.

[10]  W. Haskell,et al.  Effects of physical activity on weight reduction in obese middle-aged women. , 1976, The American journal of clinical nutrition.

[11]  R. M. Suinn,et al.  Behavior therapy for type a patients , 1975 .

[12]  R. Paffenbarger,et al.  Work activity and coronary heart mortality. , 1975, The New England journal of medicine.

[13]  R. M. Suinn Behavior therapy for cardiac patients , 1974 .

[14]  S. Zyzanski,et al.  The Coronary‐Prone Behavior Pattern in Hospitalized Patients with and without Coronary Heart Disease , 1974, Psychosomatic medicine.

[15]  S J Zyzanski,et al.  Prediction of clinical coronary heart disease by a test for the coronary-prone behavior pattern. , 1974, The New England journal of medicine.

[16]  P. Fu,et al.  Enzymatic determination of total serum cholesterol. , 1974, Clinical chemistry.

[17]  S. Chave,et al.  Vigorous exercise in leisure-time and the incidence of coronary heart-disease. , 1973, Lancet.

[18]  S J Zyzanski,et al.  Progress Toward Validation of a Computer‐Scored Test for the Type A Coronary‐Prone Behavior Pattern , 1971, Psychosomatic medicine.

[19]  S J Zyzanski,et al.  Basic dimensions within the coronary-prone behavior pattern. , 1970, Journal of chronic diseases.

[20]  L. Dexter Response to exercise after bed rest and after training. , 1968 .

[21]  M. Friedman,et al.  The relationship of behavior pattern A to the state of the coronary vasculature. A study of fifty-one autopsy subjects. , 1968, The American journal of medicine.

[22]  C. Jenkins,et al.  Development of an objective psychological test for the determination of the coronary-prone behavior pattern in employed men. , 1967, Journal of chronic diseases.

[23]  M. Friedman,et al.  A PREDICTIVE STUDY OF CORONARY HEART DISEASE. , 1964, JAMA.

[24]  B BALKE,et al.  An experimental study of physical fitness of Air Force personnel. , 1959, United States Armed Forces medical journal.

[25]  T. Dawber,et al.  Coronary heart disease in the Framingham study. , 1957, American journal of public health and the nation's health.