What's Stress Got To Do With It?

Recently National Public Radio (NPR), Robert Woods Johnson Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a study entitle “The Burden of Stress in America.” The results are being broadcast on NPR stations over the next few weeks, but the complete results have already been published here.

The study, conducted between March 5^th and April 8^th of 2014, attempted to examine the role that stress played on Americans in the last year, the perceived effect of stress and the causes of stress, and individual methods of managing stress.

The study found nearly half of the public (49%) reported having an event or experience in the last year that they considered to be majorly stressful. Of the 49% that reported a stressful event or experience, over four in ten (43%) reported health related problems – citing illness and disease, or death of a loved one.

The study went on to find that a quarter of people reported a great deal of stress within the past month, with those in poor health more than twice as likely to report a great deal of stress in the past month (60%), followed by disabled individuals (45%), those with chronic illness (36%), and individuals suffering from poverty (36%). Nearly seven out of ten (72%) of those who experienced a great deal of stress in the past month perceive that stress has a major impact on most people’s health.

Additionally, those who reported a great deal of stress in the last month most commonly reported negative effects on emotional well-being (63%), trouble sleeping (56%), and difficulty in thinking, concentrating, or making decisions (50%). For the same group, those who identified themselves as having a chronic illness or disability, over half stated that it made their symptoms worse (53%) or made it harder to manage their chronic illness or disability (52%).

The results of this survey may come as no surprise to rural health care providers in Kentucky, where high rates of disability, poverty, and chronic disease are prominent. Many rural providers see an overwhelming number of patients with one or more of these factor - so what will happened to these rural providers in a value-based health care system when it becomes nearly impossible to manage?