Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-14-2018
Abstract
Rationale
Psychological well-being is associated with better cardiovascular health, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear.
Objective
This study investigates one possible mechanism by examining psychological well-being's prospective association with lipid levels, focusing on high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C).
Methods
Participants were 4757 healthy men and women ages ≥50 from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing with clinical data from three times, three to five years apart. Psychological well-being was assessed at baseline using the Control, Autonomy, Satisfaction, and Pleasure scale; HDL-C, triglycerides, and total cholesterol were assayed from blood samples. Descriptive statistics and linear mixed models were used to examine associations between psychological well-being and lipid levels over time; the latter controlled for confounders and health behaviours.
Results
In descriptive analyses, HDL-C levels were initially higher in people with greater psychological well-being. Among those who met recommended levels of HDL-C at baseline, fewer individuals with higher versus lower psychological well-being dropped below HDL-C recommendations over time. Mixed models indicated that HDL-C increased over time (β = 0.64; 95% CI = 0.58 to 0.69) and higher baseline psychological well-being was associated with higher baseline HDL-C (β = 0.51; 95% CI = 0.03 to 0.99). A significant well-being by time interaction indicated individuals with higher versus lower well-being exhibited a more rapid rate of increase in HDL-C over follow-up. Higher psychological well-being was also significantly associated with lower triglycerides, but main effects for both HDL-C and triglycerides were attenuated after accounting for health behaviours.
Conclusion
Higher psychological well-being is associated with healthier HDL-C levels; these effects may compound over time. This protective effect may be partly explained by health behaviours.
Recommended Citation
Soo, J., Kubzansky, L. D., Chen, Y., Zevon, E. S., & Boehm, J. K. (2018). Psychological well-being and restorative biological processes: HDL-C in older English adults. Social Science & Medicine, 209: 59-66. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.05.025
Copyright
Elsevier
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Included in
Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms Commons, Cardiovascular Diseases Commons, Community Health and Preventive Medicine Commons, Health Psychology Commons, Lipids Commons, Other Psychiatry and Psychology Commons, Other Psychology Commons, Other Public Health Commons, Psychological Phenomena and Processes Commons
Comments
NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Social Science & Medicine. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Social Science & Medicine, volume 209, in 2018. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.05.025
The Creative Commons license below applies only to this version of the article.