Facets of negative affectivity, health behaviour, and risk factors of cardiovascular diseases
Year: 2013
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Previous research has shown that negative affectivity (NA) and lifestyle associate with CVD/CHD risk factors. In the present thesis the relationships between some key indicators of NA (depressive symptoms, vital exhaustion, hopelessness, and anger expression) and lifestyle factors, body mass index, serum lipids and blood pressure were investigated. All the four studies that constitute this investigation were based on data from the Helsinki Metabolic Syndrome Prevention Trial, which was an uncontrolled preventive trial aimed at improving prevention of metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases by developing a practical method for primary health care. The main idea was to screen and identify men with cardiovascular risk clustering and give them individual counselling based on their risk profile. Evaluation of risk was based on a Risk Index that included five factors: body mass index, total serum cholesterol, blood pressure (systolic and diastolic), smoking habits, and physical inactivity. The participants in the screening were 40-55 year-old-men residing in the north-east Helsinki. Data collection was carried out between May 2001 and June 2004, and all the participants were asked to answer questionnaires dealing with lifestyle factors and psychosocial risk factors. Study nurses from the Helsinki Heart District interviewed all the participants and recorded basic biomedical measurements (e.g. blood pressure, waist circumference, weight). The size of the sample in studies I-IV was 893, 705, 444, and 710, respectively. The findings of this study indicate that depressive symptoms had a consistent statistically significant correlation with adverse lifestyle factors and triglycerides. For cholesterol fractions, path analyses indicated the parallel existence of two main pathways: from depression through the adverse health behaviour to an unfavourable cholesterol fraction balance, and from depression through a direct, probably physiological, link to favourable cholesterol levels.
Source: Työväentutkimus Vuosikirja
Author: Cornel Victor Igna
Language: English
Subfield: Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Helsingin Yliopisto
OpenAlex ID: W2161342620