Frequent sauna bathing offsets the increased risk of death due to low socioeconomic status: A prospective cohort study of middle-aged and older men
Kunutsor SK, Jae SY, Laukkanen JA
Experimental gerontology · 12 citations
How it was studied
- Design
- Cohort study (indexed by PubMed)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Clinical events such as disease or death
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Independent funding
- Nonprofit
- Foundation for Cardiovascular Research
- University or hospital
- Itä-Suomen Yliopisto
- Nonprofit
- Sydäntutkimussäätiö
Based on 3 listed funder(s).
Publication
- Published
- 2022-07-28 · Exp Gerontol · vol. 167 · p. 111906
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Cited
- 12 citations · more than 75% of similar papers · 1.0× the field average
- References
- 43 works
- Access
- Open access (hybrid journal) · CC-BY
- Research areas
- Thermoregulation and physiological responses · Therapeutic Uses of Natural Elements · Body Contouring and Surgery
- Keywords
- Medicine, Prospective cohort study, Cohort, Cohort study, Socioeconomic status, Bathing, Population, Demography, Internal medicine, Environmental health, Pathology
- MeSH
- humans, baths, steam bath, risk factors, cohort studies, prospective studies, social class, aged, middle aged, male
3 authors
From GB, FI, KR
- Setor K. Kunutsor · correspondingUniversity Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust; Southmead Hospital; National Institute for Health and Care Research; University of Bristol; Central Finland Health Care District
- Sae Young JaeUniversity of Seoul
- Jari A. LaukkanenUniversity of Eastern Finland; Eastern Finland Laboratory Center; Central Finland Health Care District
Abstract
Background and aim
Low socioeconomic status (SES) and frequent sauna bathing are associated with increased and decreased risk of all-cause mortality, respectively. Whether there is an interplay among SES, sauna bathing and all-cause mortality risk is not known. We aimed to evaluate the separate and joint associations of SES and frequency of sauna bathing (FSB) with all-cause mortality risk in a prospective cohort study.
Methods
We employed the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Study cohort comprising of 2575 men aged 42-61 years at study entry. Self-reported SES and sauna bathing habits were assessed at baseline. Socioeconomic status was categorized as low and high (median cutoff) and FSB as low and high (defined as ≤2 and 3-7 sessions/week, respectively).
Results
During a median follow-up of 27.8 years, 1618 deaths occurred. Comparing low vs high SES, the multivariable-adjusted HR (95 % CI) for all-cause mortality was 1.31 (1.18-1.45). Comparing high vs low FSB, the multivariable-adjusted HR (95 % CI) for all-cause mortality was 0.86 (0.76-0.97). Compared with high SES-low FSB, low SES-low FSB was associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality 1.35 (1.20-1.51), without significant evidence of an association for low SES-high FSB and all-cause mortality risk 1.07 (0.89-1.29). Positive additive and multiplicative interactions were found between SES and FSB.
Conclusions
There exists an interplay among SES, sauna bathing and all-cause mortality risk in a general Finnish male population. Frequent sauna baths may offset the increased overall mortality risk due to low SES.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher (CC BY).
Community trust
Loading…
How much do you trust this study's findings?
Comments
Sign in to rate, comment on or flag this study.Sign inSomething wrong here?
Flag this study if its information, labels or funding look wrong. An editor reviews every flag.
Sign in to rate, comment on or flag this study.Sign inEducational information about published research. Not medical advice, and not a recommendation to start or stop anything.