Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The STEP trials

A round-up of the STEP phase 3 clinical trials evaluating semaglutide for weight loss in people with overweight or obesity.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
BMC Public Health
Published in: BMC Public Health 1/2015

Open Access 01-12-2015 | Research article

Life events and chronic physical conditions among left-behind farmers in rural China a cross-sectional study

Authors: Jing Chai, Penglai Chen, Rui Feng, Han Liang, Xingrong Shen, Guixian Tong, Jing Cheng, Kaichun Li, Shaoyu Xie, Yong Shi, Debin Wang

Published in: BMC Public Health | Issue 1/2015

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

This study investigates the relationships between life events and chronic physical conditions among left behind farmers, a newly emerged weak group in vast rural China.

Methods

The study collected information about life events, chronic physical conditions, blood pressure and fasting blood glucose from 4681 famers living in 18 randomly selected villages (Lu’an, Anhui, China) from early November 2013 to the end of December 2013. It compared the risk and odds ratios (RRs/ORs) among different subgroups divided according two life event indices derived by adding up un-weighted-ratings and weighted-ratings based on multivariate logistic regression coefficients respectively.

Results

A total of 4040 (86.3 % eligible) farmers completed the survey. RRs between farmers with lower than the first 1/15-percentile of life event index and with higher life event index scores ranged 1.43–5.79 for chronic gastritis and 0.42–9.07 for prostatitis, 1.01–4.97 for cervicitis/vaginitis, 1.45–3.28 for cardio-cerebrovascular diseases, 1.12–1.58 for hypertension, 1.00–1.66 for diabetes, 1.07–3.35 for pre-diabetes and 5.00–55.00 for “other chronic physical conditions”.

Conclusions

Life events were independently linked with most of the chronic physical conditions in a dose-effectiveness way. RRs between subgroups divided by given percentile cutoff points of life event index compiled using logistic regression models turned out to be substantially higher than that between subgroups divided by same cutoff points of life event index produced via summing up the un-weighted Likert ratings of all the events studied.
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Literature
1.
Hawkins NG, Davies R, Holmes TH. Evidence of psychosocial factors in the development of pulmonary tuberculosis. Am Rev Tuberc Pulmon Dis. 1957;75:768–80.
2.
3.
Monroe SM, Kupfer DJ, Frank E. Life stress and treatment course of recurrent depression: 1. Response during index episode. J Consult Clin Psychol. 1992;60:718–24.CrossRefPubMed
4.
5.
Dobson A, Smith N, Panchana N. Some problems with life event lists and health outcomes. Int J Behav Med. 2005;12((3):199–205.CrossRefPubMed
6.
7.
Engström G, Hedblad B, Rosvall M, et al. Occupation, marital status, and low-grade inflammation: mutual confounding or independent cardiovascular risk factors? Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2006;26:643–8.CrossRefPubMed
8.
Stanghellini V. Relationship between upper gastrointestinal symptoms and lifestyle, psychosocial factors and comorbidity in the general population: results from the domestic/international gastroenterology surveillance study (DIGEST). Scand J Gastroenterol Suppl. 1999;231:29–37.PubMed
9.
Sparrenberger F, Cichelero FT, Ascoli AM, Fonseca FP, Weiss G, Berwanger O, et al. Does psychosocial stress cause hypertension? a systematic review of observational studies. J Hum Hypertens. 2009;23:12–9. doi:10.​1038/​jhh.​2008.​74.CrossRefPubMed
10.
Pouwer F, Kupper N, Adriaanse MC. Does emotional stress cause type 2 diabetes mellitus? a review from the European depression in diabetes (EDID) research consortium. Discov Med. 2010;9:112–8.PubMed
11.
Renzaho AM, Houng B, Oldroyd J, Nicholson JM, D’Esposito F, Oldenburg B. Stressful life events and the onset of chronic diseases among Australian adults: findings from a longitudinal survey. Eur J Public Health. 2014;24(1):57–62. doi:10.​1093/​eurpub/​ckt007.PubMed
12.
Kilpeläinen M, Koskenvuo M, Helenius H, Terho EO. Stressful life events promote the manifestation of asthma and atopic diseases. Clin Exp Allergy. 2002;32:256–63.CrossRefPubMed
13.
Jacobs JR, Bovasso GB. Early and chronic stress and their relation to breast cancer. Psychol Med. 2000;30(3):669–78.CrossRefPubMed
14.
15.
16.
Robillard JE, Segar JL. Influence of early life events on health and diseases. Trans Am Clin Climatol Assoc. 2006;117:313–9. discussion 319–20.PubMedPubMedCentral
17.
Butow PN, Hiller JE, Price MA, Thackway SV, Kricker A, Tennant CC. Epidemiological evidence for a relationship between life events, coping style, and personality factors in the development of breast cancer. J Psychosom Res. 2000;49:169–81.CrossRefPubMed
18.
Veenstra MY, Lemmens PH, Friesema IH, Garretsen HF, Knottnerus JA, Zwietering PJ. A literature overview of the relationship between life-events and alcohol use in the general population. Alcohol Alcohol. 2006;41:455–63.CrossRefPubMed
19.
Allender S, Lacey B, Webster P, Rayner M, Deepa M, Scarborough P, et al. Level of urbanization and noncommunicable disease risk factors in Tamil Nadu. India Bull World Health Organ. 2010;88(4):297–304. doi:10.​2471/​BLT.​09.​065847.CrossRefPubMed
20.
Tennant C, Langeluddecke P, Byrne D. The concept of stress. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 1985;19:113–8.CrossRefPubMed
21.
Andersen I, Diderichsen F, Kornerup H, Prescott E, Rod NH. Major life events and the risk of ischaemic heart disease: does accumulation increase the risk?[J]. Int J Epidemiol. 2011;40(4):904–13.CrossRefPubMed
22.
Hasanpoor-Azghdy SB, Simbar M, Vedadhir A. The emotional-psychological consequences of infertility among infertile women seeking treatment: results of a qualitative study [J]. Iran J Reprod Med. 2014;12(2):131–8.PubMedPubMedCentral
23.
Edge S, Newbold KB, McKeary M. Exploring socio-cultural factors that mediate, facilitate, & constrain the health and empowerment of refugee youth [J]. Soc Sci Med. 2014;117:34–41.CrossRefPubMed
24.
Feng Q, Hongye LUO, Wei B, et al. Epidemiological survey on depression disorders among rural residents in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region [J]. Chin J Public Health. 2013;29(11):1610–3.
25.
Sutton JE, Bellair PE, Kowalski BR, Light R, Hutcherson DT. Reliability and validity of prisoner self-reports gathered using the life event calendar method [J]. J Quant Criminol. 2011;27(2):151–71.CrossRefPubMed
26.
Horowitz M, Wilner N, Alvarez W. Impact of event scale: a measure of subjective stress. Psychosom Med. 1979;41:209–18.CrossRefPubMed
27.
de Jong GM, Timmerman IG, Emmelkamp PM. The survey of recent life experiences: a psychometric evaluation. J Behav Med. 1996;19(6):529–42.CrossRefPubMed
28.
Lu Y, Nyunt MS, Gwee X, Feng L, Feng L, Kua EH, et al. Life event stress and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): associations with mental well-being and quality of life in a population-based study. BMJ Open. 2012. doi:10.​1136/​bmjopen-2012-001674.
29.
30.
Sali R, Roohafza H, Sadeghi M, Andalib E, Shavandi H, Sarrafzadegan N. Validation of the revised stressful life event questionnaire using a hybrid model of genetic algorithm and artificial neural networks. Comput Math Methods Med. 2013;3:601640. doi:10.​1155/​2013/​601640.
31.
Feizi A, Aliyari R, Roohafza H. Association of perceived stress with stressful life events, lifestyle and sociodemographic factors: a large-scale community-based study using logistic quantile regression. Comput Math Methods Med. 2012. doi:10.​1155/​2012/​151865.PubMedPubMedCentral
32.
33.
34.
Wong TS, Xiang YT, Tsoh J, Ungvari GS, Ko FW, Hui DS et al. Depressive disorders in older patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Hong Kong: a controlled study. Aging Ment Health. 2013. [Epub ahead of print]
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
Metadata
Title
Life events and chronic physical conditions among left-behind farmers in rural China a cross-sectional study
Authors
Jing Chai
Penglai Chen
Rui Feng
Han Liang
Xingrong Shen
Guixian Tong
Jing Cheng
Kaichun Li
Shaoyu Xie
Yong Shi
Debin Wang
Publication date
01-12-2015
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Public Health / Issue 1/2015
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2458
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-1877-0

Other articles of this Issue 1/2015

BMC Public Health 1/2015 Go to the issue

Research article

Dietary behaviour and parental socioeconomic position among adolescents: the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents 2003–2006 (KiGGS)

Research article

Disparities in cardiovascular disease among Caribbean populations: a systematic literature review

Research article

Lifestyle, chronic diseases and self-rated health among Malaysian adults: results from the 2011 National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS)

Research article

Monitoring patients on chronic treatment with antidepressants between 2003 and 2011: analysis of factors associated with compliance

Research article

Working hours and self-rated health over 7 years: gender differences in a Korean longitudinal study

Research article

Do unfavourable working conditions explain mental health inequalities between ethnic groups?: cross-sectional data of the HELIUS study