Evidence of Type A Personality in a Chinese Lady Who Died of Acute Myocardial Infarction 2,100 Years Ago

To the Editor:

I read with great interest the guest editorial by Fred and Hariharan ¹ on Types A, B, and D personalities in connection with the development and progression of coronary artery disease. As those authors point out, more than 40 years have passed since Friedman and Rosenman ² reported a 7-fold greater incidence of coronary artery disease in persons with a Type A personality than in those with a Type B personality.

Actually, such evidence existed 2,100 years ago. In 1972, archeologists in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province in China, exhumed the corpse of a noble lady, who was about 50 years of age when she died suddenly of an acute myocardial infarction in around 100 BC. ³ My study of the data on the corpse showed that a severely occluded left coronary artery apparently was responsible for her fatal myocardial infarction. ⁴ The autopsy findings in this case counter the notion that coronary artery disease is a product only of modern civilization. Moreover, the tomb contained packets of cinnamon, magnolia bark, and peppercorns, which suggests that the woman had angina pectoris. ⁵ According to Han dynasty medical canons, these herbs were prescribed for coronary heart disease, just as they still are by Chinese traditional medical doctors.

One of the most interesting autopsy findings, to me, was that the woman ate some melon about an hour before she died. The discovery of 138 melon seeds in her upper gastrointestinal tract suggests that she ate the melon in a hurry, as is typical of people with Type A personalities. ⁵ The lady was quite overweight, another coronary risk factor. She also had gallstones. ⁵