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Aim: To map COVID‐19‐specific worries and overall psychosocial health among people with diabetes in the initial phase of the COVID‐19 pandemic in Denmark, and to explore characteristics of people with diabetes and high levels of worries related to the COVID‐19 pandemic. Methods: A cross‐sectional survey was conducted by distributing online questionnaires to 2430 adult members (> 18 years) of two user panels consisting of people with diabetes who have volunteered to share information about their life with diabetes. The questionnaire included items on COVID‐19‐specific worries as well as such worries related to diabetes, sociodemographic and health status, social relations, diabetes‐specific social support, diabetes distress and changes in diabetes‐specific behaviours. Responses were analysed with descriptive statistics and logistic regressions. Results: People with diabetes have COVID‐19‐specific worries related to their diabetes. More than half were worried about being overly affected due to diabetes if infected with COVID‐19, about one‐third about being characterized as a risk group due to diabetes and not being able to manage diabetes if infected. Logistic regressions showed that being female, having type 1 diabetes, diabetes complications and diabetes distress, feeling isolated and lonely, and having changed diabetes behaviours were associated with being more worried about COVID‐19 and diabetes. Conclusion: People with diabetes have COVID‐19‐specific worries related to their diabetes which is associated with poorer psychosocial health. These worries should be addressed through support targeting specific questions and needs of individuals with diabetes as well as frequent updates on new knowledge regarding COVID‐19 and diabetes. What's new?: Little is known about how worldwide pandemics affect the psychosocial health of people with diabetes.This study showed a high prevalence of diabetes‐specific worries related to COVID‐19, especially fear of being overly affected by the virus, labelling of people with diabetes as a high‐risk group, and inability to manage diabetes if infected.Female gender, type 1 diabetes, diabetes complications, isolation, loneliness, high diabetes distress and behaviour changes were associated with being more worried about COVID‐19 and diabetes.When providing information and support to people with diabetes in time of crisis, attention should be payed to crisis‐specific worries in specific groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of shift work and long working hours in midlife on the risk of dementia in old age. Methods The present study comprised 4766 participants from the Copenhagen Male Study. We used information on shift work (collected in 1970-1971 and 1985-1986), long working hours defined as >45 hours per week (collected in 1970-1971), socioeconomic status, sleep, stress, and cardiovascular risk factors. Information about dementia diagnoses was obtained from registers. Participants were followed until 2014 (mean length of follow-up was 17.8 years). We employed Poisson regression for the survival analyses and estimated incidence rate ratios (IRR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results We found no statistically significant association between shift work (IRR 0.86, 95% CI 0.70-1.05) or long working hours (IRR 0.97, 95% CI 0.79-1.19) and dementia. Adjustment for potential confounders and mediators did not change the estimates. Working shifts at both time points of exposure assessment was not associated with a higher incidence of dementia compared with non-shift workers at both time points (IRR 0.99, 95% CI 0.69-1.42). The lowest incidence of dementia was observed among participants who reported shift work at one time point (only in 1985-1986: IRR 0.44, 95% CI 0.16-1.23 and only in 1970-1971: IRR 0.58, 95% CI 0.31-1.11). Conclusion We did not find positive evidence of an association between shift work or long working hours and the incidence of dementia, but the negative findings may reflect the crude assessment of shift work and long working hours, which is a major limitation of the present study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Numerous studies describe the occurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder following disasters, but less is known about the risk of major depression.Aims: To review the risk of depressive disorder in people surviving disasters and in soldiers returning from military deployment.Method: A systematic literature search combined with reference screening identified 23 controlled epidemiological studies. We used random effects models to compute pooled odds ratios (ORs).Results: The average OR was significantly elevated following all types of exposures: natural disaster OR = 2.28 (95% CI 1.30-3.98), technological disaster OR = 1.44 (95% CI 1.21-1.70), terrorist acts OR = 1.80 (95% CI 1.38-2.34) and military combat OR = 1.60 (95% CI 1.09-2.35). In a subset of ten high-quality studies OR was 1.41 (95% CI 1.06-1.87).Conclusions: Disasters and combat experience substantially increase the risk of depression. Whether psychological trauma per se or bereavement is on the causal path is unresolved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose Experimental studies support a link between stress and development of parkinsonian symptoms, but prospective population studies are lacking. The aim of the current study is to determine the effects of several psychosocial factors on the risk of Parkinson's disease ( PD), as well as to identify potential pre-motor symptoms for PD in a large prospective cohort study. Methods In 1991-1993, a total of 9955 women and men free of PD from the Copenhagen City Heart Study were asked about major life events, economic hardship, social network, impaired sleep and vital exhaustion. The participants were followed for first-time hospitalization with PD in nationwide registers until 2011. Results Vital exhaustion was associated with a higher risk of PD hospitalization in an exposure-dependent manner ( Ptrend = 0.001), with high vs. low vital exhaustion being associated with a hazard ratio of 2.50 [95% confidence interval ( CI): 1.28-4.89]. A slightly higher risk of PD hospitalization ( hazard ratio = 1.49; 95% CI: 0.87-2.56) was suggested in participants with impaired sleep at baseline. No more than weak associations were observed for economic hardship, major life events or inadequate social network in the current study. Conclusions Overall, the hypothesis that psychosocial risk factors affect the risk of PD is not supported. The results, however, suggest that vital exhaustion may be a pre-motor marker of the neurodegenerative process eventually leading to motor symptoms and clinical PD. Vital exhaustion may be useful for screening aimed at early detection and when considering disease-modifying therapies in people at high risk of clinical PD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose Non-motor symptoms including depression are important features of Parkinson's disease ( PD). We aim to address the relationship between major life events and depression amongst PD patients free of depressive symptoms at baseline. Methods New-onset PD patients from California were recruited in 2001-2007 and followed up for 3-4 years. The participants ( n = 221) were examined by neurologists and responded to comprehensive interviews that included major life events, social support, and coping measures from validated scales. Major depression was assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM- IV depression module ( SCID). Results More than half of all patients had experienced major life events since diagnosed with PD, and 22 patients developed a major depression. The number of life events was associated with risk of depression in an exposure-dependent manner, with each additional event being associated with a 56% higher risk of depression (95% CI: 1.23-1.98). Most individual life events were associated with a two- to eight-fold higher risk of depression. Patients with low social support or coping capacities seemed to be particularly susceptible to developing depression after experiencing major life events. Conclusions Life events play an important role for onset of depression in patients with PD; an effect that seems to be modulated by social support and coping capacities and these factors may therefore be important to assess in order to identify patients with PD at high risk of depression and provide effective interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Psychological stress can affect airway inflammatory response to irritants and allergens, but the importance of stress in the etiology of adult-onset respiratory and dermatologic allergic disorders remains unclear. We aim to address the relationship between perceived stress and the risk of adult-onset asthma, allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis, and asthma/bronchitis medication. Methods Participants ( n = 9785) from the Copenhagen City Heart Study, Denmark, free of atopic disorders at baseline in 1981-1983 were asked questions on stress intensity and frequency. They were followed for first-time asthma hospitalization in nationwide registers until 2010, with < 0.1% loss to follow-up. Objective measures of lung function allowed for thorough adjustment for confounding and prevented ambiguity between diagnosis of asthma and chronic obstructive lung disease. Daily intake of asthma/bronchitis medication and incidence of asthma, allergic rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis were assessed by self-report after 10 years of follow-up in 5648 persons. Results Perceived stress was associated with atopic disorders in a dose-dependent manner ( Ptrend < 0.001). High vs low stress was associated with higher risk of self-reported asthma incidence ( OR = 2.32; 95% CI: 1.47-3.65), daily intake of asthma/bronchitis medication ( OR = 2.26; 95% CI: 1.42-3.58), first-time asthma hospitalization ( HR = 2.01; 95% CI: 1.41-2.86), allergic rhinitis ( OR = 1.64; 95% CI: 0.99-2.72), and atopic dermatitis ( OR = 1.75; 95% CI: 1.11-2.77). The associations were similar for smokers and nonsmokers. Conclusions Stress is strongly associated with asthma incidence and hospitalization, use of asthma medication as well as with allergic rhinitis and atopic dermatitis in adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:The extent to which experiencing a stressful life event influences breast cancer prognosis remains unknown, as the findings of the few previous epidemiological studies are inconsistent. This large population-based study examines the association between a common major life event, loss of a partner and breast cancer recurrence and all-cause mortality.Methods:N=21 213 women diagnosed with a first primary breast cancer 1994-2006, who had a cohabiting partner in the 4 years before their breast cancer diagnosis, were followed for death and recurrence in population-based registers and clinical databases. Information on education, disposable income, comorbidity and prognostic risk factors were included in Cox regression analyses.Results:Women who had lost a partner either before diagnosis or in subsequent years were not at significantly higher risk of recurrence or dying than women who had not lost a partner.Conclusion:Our results do not support the concern that experiencing a stressful life event, the loss of a partner, negatively affects prognosis of breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term effects of stress on changes in health behaviour and cardiac risk profile in men and women. Design. A prospective cohort study. Setting. The Copenhagen City Heart Study, Denmark. Subjects. The analyses were based on 7066 women and men from the second (1981–1983) and third (1991–1993) wave of the Copenhagen City Heart Study. All participants were asked questions on stress and health behaviour and they had their weight, height, blood pressure and level of blood lipids measured by trained personnel. Main outcome measures. Changes in health behaviour (smoking, physical activity, alcohol consumption, overweight) and cardiac risk profile (cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes). Results. Individuals with high levels of stress compared to those with low levels of stress were less likely to quit smoking (OR = 0.58; 95% CI: 0.41–0.83), more likely to become physically inactive (1.90; 1.41–2.55), less likely to stop drinking above the sensible drinking limits (0.43; 0.24–0.79), and stressed women were more likely to become overweight (1.55; 1.12–2.15) during follow-up. Men and women with high stress were more likely to use antihypertensive medication (1.94; 1.63–2.30), and stressed men were more than two times as likely to develop diabetes during follow-up (2.36; 1.22–4.59). Conclusion. This longitudinal study supports a causal relation between stress and cardiovascular diseases mediated through unfavourable changes in health behaviour and cardiac risk profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]