Optimistic women live longer, says study

Women who have an optimistic view on life are more likely to live longer, a US study said on Wednesday. The study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, analyzed data from 2004 to 2012 from 70,000 women enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study, a long-running US study tracking women's health via surveys every two years.

The researchers looked at participants' levels of optimism and other factors that might play a role in how optimism may affect mortality risk, such as race, high blood pressure, diet and physical activity.

It found the most optimistic women, or the top quartile, had a nearly 30 percent lower risk of dying from any of the diseases analyzed in the study compared with the least optimistic women, or the bottom quartile.