Journal of Psychosomatic Research最新文献

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Context

Individuals need greater climate change awareness in order to mitigate and adapt to climate changes but this awareness can lead to negative health outcomes including climate change anxiety.

Objective

To explore the associations between climate change anxiety, idiopathic environmental intolerances and somatic symptom distress, after accounting for modern health worries, anxiety and depression.

Methods

A non-representative sample of healthy volunteers completed a cross-sectional online survey that included the Climate Change Anxiety scale (CCA-13), single questions about idiopathic intolerance to five environmental agents, the Somatic Symptoms scale (SSS-8), the Modern Health Worries scale (MHW-12), and the Patient Health Questionnaire for symptoms of anxiety and depression (PHQ-4). Participants also reported their sex, age and subjective socioeconomic status. Bivariate analyses investigated associations between variables and path analyses explored potential mediating factors.

Results

432 participants completed the questionnaire, 421 of whom were included in analyses (67 % women, mean age: 32.7 standard deviation: 12.4). Climate change anxiety, idiopathic environmental intolerances, somatic symptom distress, modern health worries, and symptoms of anxiety and depression were positively correlated in bivariate analyses (Pearson's ranging from 0.22 to 0.57, all p < 0.001). In path analyses, modern health worries (R² = 9.9 %) partially mediated the relation between climate change anxiety (R² = 20.3 %) and two correlated outcome variables, idiopathic environmental intolerances (R² = 36.8 %) and somatic symptom distress (R² = 32.4 %).

Conclusions

Climate change anxiety may negatively affect perceived physical health. Stakeholders should aim at promoting climate change awareness while addressing modern health worries to avoid negative health outcomes.

Objective

Though the association between peripheral neurophysiological biomarkers and psychological conditions is widely discussed, there is still limited evidence about the ability of peripheral biomarkers to predict psychological outcomes, especially among geriatric populations.

Methods

The study is designed as a prospective cohort study. We collected information from participants aged over 55 years. The participants were evaluated at the start of the study (T0) and 6–9 months later (T1). Information about demographic profiles, peripheral neurophysiological biomarker recordings (including heart rate variability, finger temperature, skin conductance, and electromyogram), and psychological measurements (including Brief Symptom Rating Scale-5, Chinese Happiness Inventory, and Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire) were collected at T0. At T1, participants reported self-rated questionnaires for psychological outcomes (Patient Health Questionnaire-15, health anxiety questionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory-II, and Beck Anxiety Inventory) and were evaluated with Mini-Mental State Examination by the staff. The association between the peripheral biomarkers and psychological outcomes was evaluated via multiple regression models.

Results

A total of 385 participants were included in the study and the average age was 74.49 ± 7.34 years. Both stepwise multiple linear and logistic models showed a significant association between decreased skin conductance and increased/presence of depression at T1. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis of skin conductance for depression was fair (area under curve = 0.812).

Conclusions

The ability of skin conductance to predict depression among geriatric populations may facilitate the detection of geriatric depression and future research on the pathophysiology.

Objectives

To investigate the associations between stress resilience in late adolescence and later risk of severe COVID-19 and other lower respiratory infections. A secondary aim was to examine potential confounding between low cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and stress resilience in relation to respiratory infection.

Methods

We conducted a registry-based cohort study of 1.4 million Swedish men, undergoing military conscription between 1968 and 2005. All were assessed by a psychologist for stress resilience, receiving a score between 1 and 9. The outcomes were hospitalization or death due to COVID-19 from March 2020 to September 2021 and hospitalization due to bacterial or viral pneumonia from conscription until January 2020. A secondary aim was to examine potential confounding between low cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and stress resilience in relation to respiratory infection.

Results

Poor stress resilience in late adolescence is associated with later risk of severe lower respiratory infections. Using a high resilience score as the reference, the hazard ratio (95 % CI) for death due to COVID-19 for the lowest scores was 1.49 (1.01–2.18) adjusted for CRF and other confounders. The corresponding adjusted hazard ratios for hospitalization due to bacterial pneumonia were 2.28 (2.03–2.57) and for viral pneumonia 1.92 (1.33–2.79). No significant interaction was seen between stress resilience and CRF in the analysis.

Conclusions

Poor stress resilience is a prospective factor for severe COVID-19 as well as for bacterial and viral respiratory pneumonia endpoints, independent of CRF. These findings imply an effect of late adolescent stress resilience on the immune system later in life.

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Objectives

Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are associated with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMID). We evaluated whether: (i) ACE associate with psychiatric comorbidity among individuals with IMID, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), multiple sclerosis (MS), and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD); (ii) whether psychiatric disorders mediate the relationship between ACE and IMID; and (iii) whether these findings differ from those in individuals with other chronic physical disorders.

Methods

Using data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) we performed a retrospective case-control study of participants aged 45–85 years recruited between 2010 and 2015. ACE were queried using questions derived from the Childhood Experiences of Violence Questionnaire-Short Form and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health Wave III questionnaire. We used multivariable logistic regression and causal mediation analysis to address our objectives.

Results

We included 13,977 CLSA participants. Among the 31 % of IMID participants who reported a comorbid psychiatric disorder, 79 % reported a history of ACE. ACE associated with increased odds (OR [95 % CI]) of a psychiatric disorder (2.55 [1.02–6.35]) among participants with IMID; this did not differ across IMID. The total effect (OR [95 % CI]) of ACE on IMID was 1.11 (1.07–1.16), of which 10.60 % (8.04–17.47) was mediated by psychiatric disorders. We found similar associations among participants with other chronic physical disorders.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that psychiatric disorders partially mediate the association between ACE and IMID. Most participants with IMID and comorbid psychiatric disorders report a history of ACE and may benefit from trauma-informed mental health care.

Objective

Comorbidities between internalizing disorders (IDs) and functional disorders (FDs) are well-documented, indicating shared pathways. However, their symptom-level relationships have been largely unexplored. This exploratory study employs a network approach to investigate symptoms of major depressive disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) to identify bridge symptoms explaining comorbidity between the two domains.

Methods

We used cross-sectional data on 72,919 adult subjects from the Lifelines Cohort Study, a Dutch general population sample. A total of 38 symptoms representing diagnostic criteria of IDs and FDs were assessed with validated questionnaires. Network models were estimated using eLasso, based on the Ising model, to identify bridge symptoms. The Network Comparison Test (NCT) was used to test whether there were differences in network structure and strength across sex and age.

Results

Symptoms were moderately connected, with a network density of 52.7%. ID and FD symptoms clustered in their respective domains, but were connected through the bridge symptoms, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, trouble sleeping, and unrefreshing sleep. Fatigue and difficulty concentrating had the most connections, associated with 86.6% and 78.9% of the other symptoms, respectively. NCTs indicated no differences in network connectivity between females versus males or younger versus older adults (>50 years).

Conclusions

ID and FD symptoms are moderately interconnected. Bridge symptoms displaying strong connections to multiple disorders may play a central role in the mechanisms underpinning the comorbidity between IDs and FDs.