Relationship between Personality Traits and Blood Viscosity

Abstract

Personality characteristics have been linked to various health outcomes. Personality characteristics and rheological parameters have been found to be independent correlates of cardiovascular diseases. The present study aimed to explore the possible relationship between the two independent factors, personality characteristics (Big Five traits and Type A behaviour pattern) and rheological parameters (blood viscosity, plasma viscosity and red cell rigidity), and it was expected that the factors would be positively correlated to each other. The study was conducted on the sample of 68 healthy young adults. Personality assessments and biomedical analysis of the blood sample of participants were carried out to test the possible correlates. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation analysis did not show any significant relationship between the factors. The findings indicate that personality characteristics and changes in rheological factors are independent of each other, and hence rheological parameters do not explain the relationship between personality and cardiovascular disease. Limitation and implications of the study are discussed.