[A multi-team case-control study on the effects of psychosocial stress to overall health].
OBJECTIVE
To explore the quantitative relationship between the intensity of psychosocial stress and the degree of overall health damages.


METHODS
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.


RESULTS
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).


CONCLUSIONS
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.
Li
Jiayuan
J
Department of Epidemiology, West China School of Public Health, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
Luan
Rongsheng
R
Xue
Chaorun
C
Zhang
You
Y
Gao
Jiayan
J
Yang
Dingyu
D
Luo
Xiaohui
X
Deng
Li
L
Liu
Donglei
D
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D017533:Marital Status; D012923:Social Class; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*