A multi-team case-control study on the effects of psychosocial stress to overall health / 中华流行病学杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the quantitative relationship between the intensity of psychosocial stress and the degree of overall health damages.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A multi-group case-control study was designed and implemented. The cases included two groups of out-patients (177) and in-patients (214) in a hospital in Jianyang city, and controls (587) were from the follow-up cohort in the same city. Three groups were studied on the following contents general demographic characteristics, psychosocial factors and the degree of health damages including mental, physical, and social status. Major statistical analyses were as follows ranks test, ANOVA, cluster analysis, multinomial logistic regression and ordered-logit regression.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Ordered-logit regression model showed that the odds ratio of negative life-events on degree of health damages was 1.335 (P < 0.01). This result showed that there was a positive dose-effect relationship between the negative life-events score and overall health damages. The utility of social support to overall health had protective effect (OR = 0.513).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Negative life-events were the major risk factors to overall health, and there was a dose-effect relationship between negative events and health damages. Function of social support played a protective factor for health.</p>