Objective: To determine whether optimism predicts lower rates of rehospitalization after coronary artery bypass graft surgery for the 6 months after surgery. Methods: A prospective, inception cohort design was used. The sample consisted of all consenting patients (N = 309) from a consecutive series of patients scheduled for elective coronary artery bypass graft surgery at a large, metropolitan hospital in Pittsburgh, Pa. To be eligible, patients could not be scheduled for any other coincidental

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... surgery (eg, valve replacement) and could not be in the cardiac intensive care unit or experiencing angina at the time of the referral. Participants were predominantly men (69.9%) and married (80.3%), and averaged 62.8 years of age. Recruitment occurred between