Perceived Stress and Cause-Specific Mortality Among men and Women: Results From a Prospective Cohort Study

The effect of psychological stress on total & cause-specific mortality among Danish men & women was assessed. In 1981-1983, 12,128 participants in the Copenhagen City Heart Study were asked 2 questions on stress intensity & frequency & were followed until 2004. After adjustments, men with high stress versus low stress had higher all-cause mortality. This finding was most pronounced for deaths due to respiratory diseases, external causes, & suicide. Suicide accounted for 37 of 86 deaths among men. Even though results were rather unstable, high stress was associated with an almost 6-fold higher risk of suicide in an adjusted model for men. No associations were found for women between stress & death due to external causes or suicide. (27 refs.)