Distribution of health anxiety in a general adult population and associations with demographic and social network characteristics
Background - Health anxiety (HA) is associated with increased risk of disability, increased health care utilization and reduced quality of life. However, there is no consensus on which factors are important for the level of HA. The aim of this study was to explore the distribution of HA in a general...
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10037/20269 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291720004122 |
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/20269 2023-05-15T18:34:48+02:00 Distribution of health anxiety in a general adult population and associations with demographic and social network characteristics Norbye, Anja M. Davis Abelsen, Birgit Førde, Olav Helge Ringberg, Unni 2020-11-13 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/20269 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291720004122 eng eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) Norbye, A.D. (2022). Health anxiety as a continuous construct in the general population - measuring the distribution of health anxiety and the associations with healthcare use, physical disease and cardiovascular risk factors. (Doctoral thesis). https://hdl.handle.net/10037/27090 . Psychological Medicine Norbye AD, Abelsen B, Førde OH, Ringberg U. Distribution of health anxiety in a general adult population and associations with demographic and social network characteristics. Psychological Medicine. 2020 FRIDAID 1852993 doi:10.1017/S0033291720004122 0033-2917 1469-8978 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/20269 Copyright 2020 The Author(s) VDP::Medical disciplines: 700::Health sciences: 800::Community medicine Social medicine: 801 VDP::Medisinske Fag: 700::Helsefag: 800::Samfunnsmedisin sosialmedisin: 801 Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel 2020 ftunivtroemsoe https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291720004122 2022-10-26T23:01:05Z Background - Health anxiety (HA) is associated with increased risk of disability, increased health care utilization and reduced quality of life. However, there is no consensus on which factors are important for the level of HA. The aim of this study was to explore the distribution of HA in a general adult population and to investigate whether demographic and social factors were associated with HA. Methods - This study used cross-sectional data from the seventh Tromsø study. A total of 18 064 participants aged 40 years or older were included in the analysis. The six-item Whiteley Index (WI-6) with a 5-point Likert scale was used to measure HA. Sociodemographic factors included age, sex, education, household income, quality of friendship and participation in an organized activity. Results - HA showed an exponential distribution among the participants with a median score of 2 points out of 24 points. In total, 75% had a total score of 5 points or less, whereas 1% had a score >14 points. Education, household income, quality of friendship and participation in organized activity were significantly associated with HA. The variable quality of friendship demonstrated the strongest association with HA. Conclusion - Our study showed an exponential distribution of HA in a general adult population. There was no evident cut-off point to distinguish participants with severe HA based on their WI-6 score, indicating the importance of analysing HA as a complex, continuous construct. HA demonstrated strong associations with quality of friendship and participation in an organized activity. Article in Journal/Newspaper Tromsø University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Tromsø Psychological Medicine 1 8 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
topic |
VDP::Medical disciplines: 700::Health sciences: 800::Community medicine Social medicine: 801 VDP::Medisinske Fag: 700::Helsefag: 800::Samfunnsmedisin sosialmedisin: 801 |
spellingShingle |
VDP::Medical disciplines: 700::Health sciences: 800::Community medicine Social medicine: 801 VDP::Medisinske Fag: 700::Helsefag: 800::Samfunnsmedisin sosialmedisin: 801 Norbye, Anja M. Davis Abelsen, Birgit Førde, Olav Helge Ringberg, Unni Distribution of health anxiety in a general adult population and associations with demographic and social network characteristics |
topic_facet |
VDP::Medical disciplines: 700::Health sciences: 800::Community medicine Social medicine: 801 VDP::Medisinske Fag: 700::Helsefag: 800::Samfunnsmedisin sosialmedisin: 801 |
description |
Background - Health anxiety (HA) is associated with increased risk of disability, increased health care utilization and reduced quality of life. However, there is no consensus on which factors are important for the level of HA. The aim of this study was to explore the distribution of HA in a general adult population and to investigate whether demographic and social factors were associated with HA. Methods - This study used cross-sectional data from the seventh Tromsø study. A total of 18 064 participants aged 40 years or older were included in the analysis. The six-item Whiteley Index (WI-6) with a 5-point Likert scale was used to measure HA. Sociodemographic factors included age, sex, education, household income, quality of friendship and participation in an organized activity. Results - HA showed an exponential distribution among the participants with a median score of 2 points out of 24 points. In total, 75% had a total score of 5 points or less, whereas 1% had a score >14 points. Education, household income, quality of friendship and participation in organized activity were significantly associated with HA. The variable quality of friendship demonstrated the strongest association with HA. Conclusion - Our study showed an exponential distribution of HA in a general adult population. There was no evident cut-off point to distinguish participants with severe HA based on their WI-6 score, indicating the importance of analysing HA as a complex, continuous construct. HA demonstrated strong associations with quality of friendship and participation in an organized activity. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Norbye, Anja M. Davis Abelsen, Birgit Førde, Olav Helge Ringberg, Unni |
author_facet |
Norbye, Anja M. Davis Abelsen, Birgit Førde, Olav Helge Ringberg, Unni |
author_sort |
Norbye, Anja M. Davis |
title |
Distribution of health anxiety in a general adult population and associations with demographic and social network characteristics |
title_short |
Distribution of health anxiety in a general adult population and associations with demographic and social network characteristics |
title_full |
Distribution of health anxiety in a general adult population and associations with demographic and social network characteristics |
title_fullStr |
Distribution of health anxiety in a general adult population and associations with demographic and social network characteristics |
title_full_unstemmed |
Distribution of health anxiety in a general adult population and associations with demographic and social network characteristics |
title_sort |
distribution of health anxiety in a general adult population and associations with demographic and social network characteristics |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/20269 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291720004122 |
geographic |
Tromsø |
geographic_facet |
Tromsø |
genre |
Tromsø |
genre_facet |
Tromsø |
op_relation |
Norbye, A.D. (2022). Health anxiety as a continuous construct in the general population - measuring the distribution of health anxiety and the associations with healthcare use, physical disease and cardiovascular risk factors. (Doctoral thesis). https://hdl.handle.net/10037/27090 . Psychological Medicine Norbye AD, Abelsen B, Førde OH, Ringberg U. Distribution of health anxiety in a general adult population and associations with demographic and social network characteristics. Psychological Medicine. 2020 FRIDAID 1852993 doi:10.1017/S0033291720004122 0033-2917 1469-8978 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/20269 |
op_rights |
Copyright 2020 The Author(s) |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291720004122 |
container_title |
Psychological Medicine |
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1 |
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8 |
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1766219733560983552 |