Dataset Information

Psychological distress as a risk factor for death from cerebrovascular disease.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Little is known about psychological risk factors in cerebrovascular disease. We examined the association between psychological distress and risk of death due to cerebrovascular disease.

Methods

We obtained data from 68 652 adult participants of the Health Survey for England (mean age 54.9 [standard deviation 13.9] yr, 45.0% male sex) with no known history of cardiovascular diseases at baseline. We used the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) to assess the presence of psychological distress. We followed participants for eight years for cause-specific death using linkage to national registers.

Results

There were 2367 deaths due to cardiovascular disease during follow-up. Relative to participants with no symptoms of psychological distress (GHQ-12 score 0) at baseline, people with psychological distress (GHQ-12 score ? 4, 14.7% of participants) had an increased risk of death from cerebrovascular disease (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.66, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.32-2.08) and ischemic heart disease (adjusted HR 1.59, 95% CI 1.34-1.88). There was also evidence of a dose-response effect with increasing GHQ-12 score (p for trend < 0.001 in all analyses). Associations were only marginally attenuated after we adjusted for possible confounders, including socioeconomic status, smoking and use of antihypertensive medications.

Interpretation

Psychological distress was associated with increased risk of death due to cerebrovascular disease in a large population-representative cohort. These data suggest that the cardiovascular effects of psychological distress are not limited to coronary artery disease.

SUBMITTER: Hamer M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3447014 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Psychological distress as a risk factor for death from cerebrovascular disease.

Hamer Mark M Kivimaki Mika M Stamatakis Emmanuel E Batty G David GD

CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne 20120618 13

<h4>Background</h4>Little is known about psychological risk factors in cerebrovascular disease. We examined the association between psychological distress and risk of death due to cerebrovascular disease.<h4>Methods</h4>We obtained data from 68 652 adult participants of the Health Survey for England (mean age 54.9 [standard deviation 13.9] yr, 45.0% male sex) with no known history of cardiovascular diseases at baseline. We used the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) to assess the pres ...[more]

PMID: 22711734

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Dataset Information

Psychological distress as a risk factor for death from cerebrovascular disease.

Background

Methods

Results

Interpretation

Publications

Psychological distress as a risk factor for death from cerebrovascular disease.

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