Titre du document / Document title

Sense of humor and survival among a county cohort of patients with end-stage renal failure : A two-year prospective study

Auteur(s) / Author(s)

SVEBAK Sven ⁽¹⁾ ; KRISTOFFERSEN Bjørn ⁽²⁾ ; AASARØD Knut ⁽²⁾ ;

Affiliation(s) du ou des auteurs / Author(s) Affiliation(s)

⁽¹⁾ The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, NORVEGE
⁽²⁾ St. Olav University Hospital, Trondheim, NORVEGE

Résumé / Abstract

Objective: To explore the significance of sense of humor for survival in a county cohort of patients diagnosed with end-stage renal failure. This diagnosis is a life-threatening condition that calls upon coping skills and regular dialysis. Method: All patients receiving dialysis in the county of Sør-Trøndelag during February of one year (N= 52) were invited. Forty-one completed the survey and had complete data (78.9%). Predictors were related to survival status two years later. Three blocks of predictors were tested: 1) age, gender and education; 2) duration of disease, number of dialyses per week, and co-morbidity; and 3) quality of life and sense of humor. Confounding effects of variables in blocks one and two were controlled for using Cox survival analysis. Results: Nineteen patients (46.3 %) died over the 2-year observation period. Survival decreased with higher age at time of survey (p <.044), but was not significantly predicted by variables in block two. A highly significant increase in survival was due to the psychological variables of block three (p <.001) essentially accounted for by sense of humor (p <.005). Those who scored above the median in sense of humor increased their odds for survival by on average 31%. Conclusions: Sense of humor appeared to mediate better coping and, therefore, protected against detrimental effects of disease-related stressors upon survival.

Revue / Journal Title

International journal of psychiatry in medicine   ISSN 0091-2174   CODEN IJMEDO 

Source / Source

2006, vol. 36, n^o3, pp. 269-281 [13 page(s) (article)] (28 ref.)

Langue / Language

Anglais

Editeur / Publisher

Baywood, Farmingdale, NY, ETATS-UNIS  (1973) (Revue)

Mots-clés anglais / English Keywords

Kidney disease ; Urinary system disease ; Human ; Quality of life ; Coping ; Stress ; Age ; Predictive factor ; Mortality ; Follow up study ; Renal failure ; Terminal stage ; Humor ;

Mots-clés français / French Keywords

Rein pathologie ; Appareil urinaire pathologie ; Homme ; Qualité vie ; Coping ; Stress ; Age ; Facteur prédictif ; Mortalité ; Etude longitudinale ; Insuffisance rénale ; Stade terminal ; Humour ;

Mots-clés espagnols / Spanish Keywords

Riñón patología ; Aparato urinario patología ; Hombre ; Calidad vida ; Coronación ; Estrés ; Edad ; Factor predictivo ; Mortalidad ; Estudio longitudinal ; Insuficiencia renal ; Estadio terminal ; Humor ;

Mots-clés d'auteur / Author Keywords

mortality ; prospective ; renal failure ; sense of humor ; survival ;

Localisation / Location

INIST-CNRS, Cote INIST : 16062, 35400015895155.0020