Background It is stated that vital exhaustion (VE) increases the risk of getting cardiovascular disease (CVD) (1), at the moment the leading cause of death globally (2). A factor in life that may be protective against the harmful effect of VE is social support (3) which is also associated with CVD (4). This thesis will investigate if social support can moderate the relationship between VE and CVD outcomes and have a protective effect. It will also exploratively investigate if comorbid depression or self-rated health confound the relationship. Method This thesis uses secondary data from 935 myocardial infarction patients that were included in the Uppsala University Psychosocial Care Programme (U-CARE) Heart Trial conducted in Sweden. To estimate the hazard ratio (HR) for developing CVD outcomes and investigate if the relationship between VE and CVD could be explained by different confounders and moderated by social support, stratified and interaction analyses were conducted, as well as Cox proportional hazard regression model. Results Social support did not moderate the relationship between VE and CVD. No protective effect on the hazard of developing CVD was shown in those with high social support. The effect of VE on CVD was not affected by depression but when self-rated health was included in the model VE lost its unique effect on CVD. Conclusion Social support did not have a protective effect on VE that impacted CVD. Globally, the main focus should be on preventing individuals from getting VE to prevent and reduce the prevalence of CVD.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-412353 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Låftman, Christina |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för kvinnors och barns hälsa |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
Page generated in 0.0019 seconds