Migraine predicts hypertension--a cohort study of the Finnish working-age population.

Background: Migraine has been suggested to be associated with hypertension. The aim of the present 5-year prospective cohort study was to examine whether self-reported migraine in 1998 predicted hypertension in 2003 in a Finnish working-age population.

Methods: This cohort study consisted of 13 454 randomly selected initially non-hypertensive working-age participants of the prospective postal survey of the Health and Social Support.

Can social support alleviate inflammation associated with childhood adversities?

Objective: Childhood adversities have been linked to elevated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), which has been associated with increased morbidity. Low social support has been reported to worsen the prognosis in heart disease and cancer, and high social support has been linked to lower hsCRP. We hypothesized that social support could be a mediating factor between childhood adversities and hsCRP.

Childhood adversities and adult-onset asthma: a cohort study.

Objectives: Childhood adversities may be important determinants of later illnesses and poor health behaviour. However, large-scale prospective studies on the associations between childhood adversities and the onset of asthma in adulthood are lacking.

Design: Prospective cohort study with 7-year follow-up.

Non-response in a nationwide follow-up postal survey in Finland: a register-based mortality analysis of respondents and non-respondents of the Health and Social Support (HeSSup) Study.

Objective: To examine difference in mortality between postal survey non-respondents and respondents.

Design: A prospective cohort study with baseline survey in 1998 and comprehensive linkage to national mortality registers until 2005, the Health and Social Support study.

Setting: A population-based postal survey of the working-aged population in Finland in 1998.

[Psychologically traumatized patient on a general practitioner's consultation].

Psychologic first aid and active observation ("watchful waiting") provided by a general practitioner will usually suffice as therapy for acute stress reaction and disorder. Drug therapy should be considered only with caution. If trauma-related symptoms become prolonged, developing into a post-traumatic stress disorder, the general practitioner can continue to carry the responsibility for the treatment and follow-up, even though the psychotherapeutic treatment would be provided elsewhere.

Childhood adversities, adulthood life events and depression.

Background: The role of childhood adversities in predicting adulthood depression has been suggested to be complex and in need of additional comprehensive studies.

Aims: This investigation set out to examine whether increased exposure to life events (LEs) in adulthood mediates the association between childhood adversities and adulthood depression.

Methods: This study is based on a random health survey sample from the Finnish working-aged population (n=16,877) with a follow-up of up to 7 years.

Childhood adversities as predictors of incident coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease.

Background: Studies suggest that childhood adversities are important determinants of various types of later illnesses as well as poor health behaviour. However, few large-scale prospective studies have examined the associations between childhood adversities and cardiovascular disease.

Objective: To investigate whether childhood adversities are associated with increased risk of incident cardiovascular disease.

Low pessimism protects against stroke: the Health and Social Support (HeSSup) prospective cohort study.

Background And Purpose: The association between optimism and pessimism and health outcomes has attracted increasing research interest. To date, the association between these psychological variables and risk of stroke remains unclear. We examined the relationship between pessimism and the 7-year incidence of stroke.

Liability to anxiety and severe life events as predictors of new-onset sleep disturbances.

Study Objectives: This study examined the effects of liability to anxiety and stressful life events on the onset of sleep disturbances.

Design: A 5-year longitudinal observational cohort study.

Participants: A population sample of 16,627 men and women with undisturbed sleep and 2572 with disturbed sleep at baseline.

Job strain, life events, and sickness absence: a longitudinal cohort study in a random population sample.

Objective: To examine job strain, adverse life events, and their co-occurrence as predictors of sickness absence.

Methods: Random sample-based mail survey data on 1806 Finns in gainful employment were linked to sickness absence records (1987-1998) from national health registers. Generalized linear models with negative binomial distribution assumption were applied.

Childhood adversities as a predictor of disability retirement.

Background: There is a large body of research on adulthood risk factors for retirement due to disability, but studies on the effect of adverse childhood experiences are scarce.

Aim: To examine whether adverse childhood experiences predict disability retirement.

Methods: Data were derived from the Health and Social Support Study.

Childhood adversities, adult risk factors and depressiveness: a population study.

Objective: Childhood adversities have been associated with adulthood depressiveness, but the contribution of adult risk factors is seldom described. We examined whether adult risk factors lie on the pathway from childhood adversity to adult depressiveness (pathway hypothesis) or whether the association depends on life events (vulnerability hypothesis).

Method: Among 21,101 randomly sampled working-aged respondents [the Health and Social Support in Finland (HeSSup) Study], the hypotheses were tested with logistic regression analysis models studying the associations between Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)-assessed depressiveness and self-reported childhood adversities alone and in combination with recent adverse events.

Associations of social support and sex life--the HeSSup Study.

The present study characterized the associations of three sex life issues (importance of, satisfaction with, and ease in talking about sex life) with social support and reciprocity. We utilised survey data of working-aged men and women (n = 21,101) from the population-based random sample of the Health and Social Support (HeSSup) Study (40% response). The respondents with abundant social support considered sex life important, were satisfied with it, and found it easy to talk about sex life more often than those with less social support.

Childhood adversities, parent-child relationships and dispositional optimism in adulthood.

Background: Studies exploring the effects of childhood adversities and parent-child relationship on adulthood dispositional optimism are rather rare, have been performed on small, selected samples and lack analyses of interaction between childhood factors.

Method: A total of 19970 working-aged Finns responded to the population-based HeSSup Study baseline questionnaire in 1998. The level of dispositional optimism (measured with the LOT-R scale) was analyzed according to self-reported childhood adversities, childhood parent-child relationships and their interaction, using multivariate linear regression analysis methods.

Social support, early retirement, and a retirement preference: a study of 10,489 Finnish adults.

The aim of the study was to examine associations of social support with early retirement and reported retirement preference. Logistic regression analyses of early retirement (retired before the age of 55) were based on a cohort of 10,489 respondents (5960 female, 4529 male) aged 40-55 years. Analyses of retirement preference (planning of early retirement) were based on a sub-cohort of 7759 full-time employees (4233 female, 3526 male).