We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Associations between self‐reported respiratory symptoms and non‐specific psychological distress following exposure to a prolonged landscape fire.
- Authors
Samuel, Riana; Carroll, Matthew T. C.; Ikin, Jillian F.; Gao, Caroline X.; Del Monaco, Anthony; McFarlane, Alexander; Berger, Emily; Maybery, Darryl; Broder, Jonathan; Brown, David; Sim, Malcolm R.; Walker, Judi; Abramson, Michael J.
- Abstract
We investigated the association between respiratory symptoms and psychological distress in the context of a prolonged smoke event, and evaluated whether smoke exposure, or pre‐existing respiratory and mental health conditions, influenced the association. Three thousand ninety‐six residents of a rural town heavily exposed to smoke from the 6‐week Hazelwood coal mine fire, and 960 residents of a nearby unexposed town, completed Kessler's psychological distress questionnaire (K10) and a modified European Community Respiratory Health Survey. Logistic regression models evaluated associations between distress and respiratory symptoms, with interactions fitted to evaluate effect modification. Smoke exposed participants reported higher levels of distress than those unexposed, and participants reporting respiratory symptoms recorded higher levels of distress than participants without respiratory symptoms, irrespective of exposure. 5‐unit increments in K10 scores were associated with 21%–48% increases in the odds of reporting respiratory symptoms. There were significant interactions with pre‐existing asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and mental health conditions, but not with smoke exposure. Although participants with pre‐existing conditions were more likely to report respiratory symptoms, increasing distress was most strongly associated with respiratory symptoms among those without pre‐existing conditions. Communities exposed to landscape fire smoke could benefit from interventions to reduce both psychological and respiratory distress.
- Subjects
RESPIRATORY diseases; ASTHMA; SELF-evaluation; RURAL conditions; INHALATION injuries; SMOKE inhalation injuries; RISK assessment; COMPARATIVE studies; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; OBSTRUCTIVE lung diseases; QUESTIONNAIRES; LOGISTIC regression analysis; ODDS ratio; MENTAL illness; PSYCHOLOGICAL distress; DISEASE complications; SYMPTOMS
- Publication
Stress & Health: Journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress, 2022, Vol 38, Issue 2, p364
- ISSN
1532-3005
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/smi.3097