It used to be thought perfectionists or people with so-called Type A personalities were prone to heart attacks. Studies have failed to make that connection.

But there''s growing evidence that if you have a Type "D" personality your heart could suffer the consequences.

The discovery was made by a doctor in Belgium. He developed a 14 point questionnaire that showed people with a certain kind of personality ran a higher risk of doing poorly after having a heart attack or getting a stent. We showed the test to a woman who had a heart attack at 39.

"I looked at this and said this looks to me like when I was in the hospital," said Crystal Kennedy, an attorney who is a partner at Thompson Coburn. She''s also a wife and stepmother. She knows better than to blame her heart attack on any one thing.

"I had bad genes I had heart disease in my family, I had bad habits I won''t go into all of those," said Kennedy.

But she definitely sees herself in this. The DS-14 is a standard assessment of negative affectivity and social inhibition. Research has shown people who take the test and are classified as worriers, irritable and socially timid don''t respond as well to treatment following a heart event as non-type D patients. Another study of 875 people who had stents to open heart arteries showed Type D patients had more than four times the risk of death due to heart attack or stroke in the six to nine months after the procedure.

"We see heart attacks that are clearly stress related," said Dr. Edward Geltman, director of the heart failure program at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

But Dr. Geltman said all Type "D''ers" won''t have heart problems, and those that do aren''t always doomed to have poor outcomes. They key is lowering stress.

"In a number of studies people who have some control and are happy in what they do even if they''re under stress, if they like the stress, can handle it well and can do well," said Geltman.

Kennedy didn''t change jobs, but said she''s changed her outlook a lot since her heart attack and no longer considers herself Type D. "I don''t feel nearly as irritated and nearly as inhibited in crowds, and things like that. As a matter of fact I kind of enjoy things a lot better now than I used to."