Cardiovascular risk factors and psychological distress in Australian farming communities Brumby, Susan, Chandrasekara, Ananda, McCoombe, Scott, Kremer, Peter and Lewandowski, Paul 2012, Cardiovascular risk factors and psychological distress in Australian farming communities, Australian journal of rural health, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 131-137, doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1584.2012.01273.x. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads Title Cardiovascular risk factors and psychological distress in Australian farming communities Author(s) Brumby, Susan orcid.org/0000-0001-6332-3374 Chandrasekara, Ananda orcid.org/0000-0003-0947-6083 McCoombe, Scott orcid.org/0000-0001-6717-7511 Kremer, Peter orcid.org/0000-0003-2476-1958 Lewandowski, Paul Journal name Australian journal of rural health Volume number 20 Issue number 3 Start page 131 End page 137 Total pages 7 Publisher Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia Place of publication Richmond, Vic. Publication date 2012-06 ISSN 1440-1584 1038-5282 Keyword(s) obesity mental health farmer cardiovascular disease metabolic syndrome physical activity lifestyle disease population overweight farmers burden health Summary Objective:  To examine the prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, psychological distress and associations between physical and mental health parameters within a cohort of the Australian farming community. Design:  Cross-sectional descriptive study. Setting:  Farming communities across Australia. Participants:  Data of men (n = 957) and women (n = 835) farmers from 97 locations across Australia were stratified into categories based on National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines. Main outcome measure(s):  Prevalence of and interrelationship between overweight, obesity, dyslipidaemia, hypertension, diabetes risk and psychological distress. Results:  There was a higher prevalence of overweight (42.5%, 95% confidence interval (CI), 34.2–50.8), obesity (21.8%, 95% CI, 18.3–25.3), abdominal adiposity (38.4% 95% CI, 24.5–52.5), hypertension (54.0%, 95% CI, 34.4–73.5) and diabetes risk (25.3%, 95% CI, 17.7–36.7) in the farming cohort compared with national data. There was also a positive significant association between the prevalence of psychological distress and obesity, abdominal adiposity, body fat percentage and metabolic syndrome in older (age ≥ 50 years) participants. Conclusions:  This study group of farming men and women exhibited an increased prevalence of CVD risk factors and co-morbidities. The findings indicate a positive association between psychological distress and risk for developing CVD, particularly in the older farmers. If the younger cohort were to maintain elevated rates of psychological distress, then it is foreseeable that the next generation of farmers could experience poorer physical health than their predecessors. Language eng DOI 10.1111/j.1440-1584.2012.01273.x Field of Research 111799 Public Health and Health Services not elsewhere classified Socio Economic Objective 970111 Expanding Knowledge in the Medical and Health Sciences HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal Copyright notice ©2012, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30046004 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Health School of Psychology School of Medicine Related Links Link Description Connect to published version (restricted access) Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Versions Version Filter Type Thu, 28 Jun 2012, 11:00:03 EST Thu, 28 Jun 2012, 11:01:05 EST Thu, 28 Jun 2012, 11:03:26 EST Mon, 02 Jul 2012, 13:46:10 EST Mon, 02 Jul 2012, 13:47:33 EST Mon, 02 Jul 2012, 14:05:41 EST Fri, 17 Oct 2014, 11:34:35 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 28 times in TR Web of Science Cited 25 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 932 Abstract Views, 2 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Thu, 28 Jun 2012, 11:00:03 EST by Jane Moschetti