A psychosocial perspective on heart failure: etiology, prognosis and labor market participation

Purpose and aims: We aim to contribute to a better understanding of the role of psychosocial factors in the etiology and prognosis of heart failure (HF) and of patterns and predictors of work disability in HF patients of working age.

The specific questions are:Are psychosocial factors, namely adverse life events in childhood and adulthood, work stress, social support, anger-behavior and a wider range of psychiatric disorders than depression associated with incident HF?Are psychosocial factors, namely stress and a wider range of psychiatric disorders than depression associated with HF prognosis?What are the patterns of work disability in HF patients of working age compared to healthy controls and what factors predict length of work disability?Project organization, time plan and methods: In this four-year project, we will analyze data from a register cohort involving all born in Denmark (1973-2020) and Sweden (1973-2014) (N=7.2 million) and their parents (N=6.7 million), the Norwegian Nord-Trøndelag Health Study conducted in 1995-97 (N=65237) and 2006-08 (N=50807) (aim 1), a register-based cohort of HF patients in the National Patient Register (1987-2019) and/or patients in the HF quality registry (2003-2019) (aim 2) and Insurance Medicine All Sweden database (aim 3).Relevance: A better understanding of the role of psychosocial factors in the etiology and prognosis of HF and the patterns and predictors of work disability will be informative for HF prevention strategies.