Hostile people more likely to suffer a stroke

Feeling cynical and hostile toward others may double the risk of having a stroke in middle-aged and older adults, according to a study out Thursday. The research in Stroke, a journal of the American Heart Association, also found that depression and high stress increased stroke risk. These surveys assessed chronic stress, depressive symptoms, anger and hostility over two years, and low scores indicated a lesser frequency of these feelings. Researchers found that those with the highest hostility scores — measured by assessing a person's cynical expectations of other people's motives — were more than twice as likely to have a stroke or TIA, compared to the lowest scorers.