Perceived stress and mortality in a Taiwanese older adult population

Sarinnapha Vasunilashorn, Dana A. Glei, Maxine Weinstein, Noreen Goldman

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

33 Scopus citations

Abstract

Perceived stress is associated with poor health outcomes including negative affect, increased susceptibility to the common cold and cardiovascular disease; the consequences of perceived stress for mortality, however, have received less attention. This study characterizes the relationship between perceived stress and 11-year mortality in a population of Taiwanese adults aged 53 years. Using the Survey of Health and Living Status of the Near Elderly and Elderly of Taiwan, we calculated a composite measure of perceived stress based on six items pertaining to the health, financial situation, and occupation of the respondents and their families. Proportional hazard models were used to determine whether perceived stress predicted mortality. After adjusting for sociodemographic factors only, we found that a one standard deviation increase in perceived stress was associated with a 19% increase in all-cause mortality risk during the 11-year follow-up period (hazard ratio, HR 1.19, 95% confidence interval, CI 1.13-1.26). The relationship was greatly attenuated when perceptions of stress regarding health were excluded, and was not significant after adjusting for medical conditions, mobility limitations and depressive symptoms. We conclude that the association between perceived stress and mortality is explained by an individual's current health; however, our data do not allow us to distinguish between two possible interpretations of this conclusion: (a) the relationship between perceived stress and mortality is spurious, or (b) poor health acts as the mediator

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)600-606
Number of pages7
JournalStress
Volume16
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 2013

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Endocrine and Autonomic Systems
  • Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
  • Psychiatry and Mental health
  • Physiology
  • Behavioral Neuroscience

Keywords

  • Aging
  • all-cause mortality
  • cancer mortality
  • cardiovascular mortality
  • perceived stress
  • reverse causality

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