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Work stress, family stress and asthma: a cross-sectional study among women in China

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Abstract

Purpose

Research addressing links of work stress or family stress with asthma is constrained by (1) inconsistent evidence, (2) failure to consider the combined exposure to work stress and family stress, and (3) its primary focus on Western study populations. We aimed to address these knowledge gaps.

Methods

We used cross-sectional data collected in 2015 among 7816 women from five professional groups in five Chinese cities. Work stress was measured by the 10-item effort–reward imbalance (ERI) questionnaire. Family stress was assessed by a psychometrically evaluated instrument comprising five items on, e.g., familial conflicts or domestic workload. Asthma was operationalized by self-reports of a physician diagnosis. Associations were examined by multivariable logistic regression estimating odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Results

Both high work stress (i.e., ERI score >1) and high family stress (i.e., score above the median) were associated with asthma (OR 1.66, 95% CI 1.22–2.27 and OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.10–1.99, respectively). Women with combined exposure (versus none) had somewhat higher odds of asthma (OR 2.13, 95% CI 1.42–3.19) than those with sole exposure to either work stress (OR 1.89, 95% CI 1.20–2.96) or family stress (OR 1.71, 95% CI 1.03–2.84). Interaction terms were significant for continuous variables (p = 0.046), but not for dichotomized variables (p = 0.199).

Conclusions

The present study suggests that both work stress and family stress are positively associated with asthma in women in China. Further, the combined exposure may be associated with a further excess of asthma occurrence. Longitudinal studies are needed to confirm our findings and to explore potential temporal relationships.

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Acknowledgements

The project was sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China as one of the Pillar Programs from the National 12th Five-Year Plan (project No. 2012BAI37B03). Hui Ding, Wei Han, Hong Wang, Jiang-Ping Wu, and Liu Yang collected data in five cities, respectively, and they contributed to this study equally.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, Centre for Health and Society, Faculty of Medicine, University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Adrian Loerbroks, Peter Angerer & Jian Li

  2. Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Capital Medical University, 251 Yaojiayuan Road, 100026, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Hui Ding

  3. School of Public Health, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Hui Ding

  4. Shaanxi Provincial People’s Hospital, Xi‘an, People’s Republic of China

    Wei Han

  5. Shenzhen Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China

    Hong Wang

  6. Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China

    Jiang-Ping Wu

  7. Shenyang Women and Children Health Care Center, Shenyang, People’s Republic of China

    Liu Yang

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  1. Adrian Loerbroks
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  2. Hui Ding
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  3. Wei Han
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  4. Hong Wang
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  5. Jiang-Ping Wu
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  6. Liu Yang
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  7. Peter Angerer
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  8. Jian Li
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Correspondence to Hui Ding.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Loerbroks, A., Ding, H., Han, W. et al. Work stress, family stress and asthma: a cross-sectional study among women in China. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 90, 349–356 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-017-1201-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-017-1201-7

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