Psychosocial distress as a risk factor of asthma mortality

Abstract

Background: Asthma is a mayor public health problems and its prevalence has risen in recent decades world wide. Various explanations have been proposed to explain this trend including air pollution, aeroallergens, diet, infections and tobacco smoke. However, focus on biological risk factors has not fully explained this trend. A mounting body of research evidence suggests that psychosocial stress is likely to be a factor contributing to the development of asthma. The aim of the present study was to estimate the effect of psychosocial distress on asthma mortality rate at the aggregate level. Subjects and methods: Trends in age-adjusted, sex-specific suicide (as an integral indicator for psychosocial distress) and asthma mortality rate in Russia from 1975 to 2005 were analyzed employing an ARIMA analysis in order to asses bivariate relationship between the two time series. Results: Time series analysis indicates the presence of statistically significant association between the two time series both for males and females. Conclusion: The findings of the present study add to the growing number of studies linking psychosocial distress to asthma expression and mortality. This paper presents new epidemiological evidence that supports psychosomatic concept of asthma.