Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29680578›Full record

ArticleJournal of psychosomatic research2018

The effects of psychological distress and its interaction with socioeconomic position on risk of developing four chronic diseases.

Kyle J J McLachlan, Catharine R Gale

Open access · hybridAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of psychosomatic research, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 58 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
58citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
6.1field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

58 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 115 citations in OpenAlex.

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  13. Association between solar radiation and mood disorders among Gulf Coast residents.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Kyle J J McLachlanEdinburgh Medical School, College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK; Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Catharine R GaleCentre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK; MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK. Electronic address: crg@mrc.soton.ac.uk.
MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit · GBUniversity of Edinburgh · GB

Funding

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research CouncilMedical Research Council G0400491Medical Research Council MC_U147585819Medical Research Council MC_U147585824Medical Research Council MC_U147585827Medical Research Council MC_UP_A620_1014Medical Research Council MC_UU_12011/1Medical Research Council MC_UU_12011/2Medical Research Council MR/K026992/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo examine the relationship between psychological distress and risk of developing arthritis, cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes across the range of distress severity, investigate the mediating roles of health behaviours and explore whether the associations vary with socioeconomic position.

methodsParticipants were 16,485 adults from the UK Household Longitudinal Study We examined prospective relationships between psychological distress at baseline (measured using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire) and incidence of arthritis, cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes (measured using self-report) over 3 years using logistic regression. We then examined the mediating effects of health behaviours and investigated whether the associations varied with socioeconomic position.

resultsDistress significantly increased risk of incident arthritis, cardiovascular disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in a dose-response pattern after controlling for age, sex, socioeconomic position, neighbourhood cohesion, marital status, BMI and baseline disease. High levels of distress (GHQ ≥ 7) increased risk of arthritis (OR 2.22; 1.58-2.13), cardiovascular disease (OR 3.06; 1.89-4.98) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OR 3.25; 1.47-7.18). These associations were partially mediated by smoking status but remained significant after controlling for smoking status, diet and exercise. Distress significantly predicted incident diabetes in manual socioeconomic groups only. Effect sizes did not vary with socioeconomic position for arthritis, cardiovascular disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

conclusionPsychological distress increases risk of incident arthritis, cardiovascular disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in a dose-response pattern, even at low and moderate distress levels. Future research should investigate the mediating role of inflammatory biomarkers.

Indexed as

Chronic DiseaseFemaleHumansIncidenceLongitudinal StudiesMaleMiddle AgedRisk FactorsSocioeconomic FactorsStress, PsychologicalArthritisCardiovascular diseaseChronic obstructive pulmonary diseaseDepressionDiabetesPsychological distress

Identifiers

PMID29680578
PMCPMC5959313
OpenAlexW2797787314

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.