Validity of the Type D personality construct in Danish post-MI patients and healthy controls

Type D personality has been associated with increased risk of depression, vital exhaustion, social alienation, a higher number of reinfarctions, and higher mortality rates in patients with established coronary artery disease (CAD) independent of traditional biomedical risk factors. The construct was developed in Belgian cardiac patients, but little is known about its applicability in other nationalities. The objectives of the present article were to cross-validate the Type D Personality Scale-16 (DS16) in a Danish sample of patients with a first myocardial infarction and a random sample of healthy controls, and to investigate whether Type D is associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).