Prolonged perceived stress and saliva cortisol in a large cohort of Danish public service employees: cross-sectional and longitudinal associations

ObjectivesCough is the most common symptom prompting people to consult a doctor, thus representing a huge cost to the healthcare. This burden could be reduced by decreasing the number of repetitive consultations by the same individuals. Therefore, it would be valuable to recognise the factors that associate with repetitive doctor’s consultations due to cough.DesignA cross-sectional, email survey.SettingPublic service employees in two Finnish towns.ParticipantsThe questionnaire was sent to 13 980 subjects; 3695 (26.4 %) participated.InterventionsThe questionnaire sought detailed information about participant characteristics, all disorders diagnosed by a doctor, various symptoms and doctor’s consultations. Those with current cough were inquired about cough characteristics and filled in the Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ).Primary outcomeRepetitive (≥3) doctor’s consultations due to cough during the previous 12 months.ResultsThere were 205 participants (5.5% of the participants) with repetitive consultations. They accounted for 848 out of the 1681 doctor’s consultations (50.4%) due to cough. Among all participants, repetitive consultations were mainly related to the presence of asthma (adjusted OR (aOR) 2.90 (2.01 to 4.19)) and chronic rhinosinusitis (aOR 2.40 (1.74 to 3.32)). Among the 975 participants with current cough, repetitive consultations were mainly related to a low LCQ total score (aOR 3.84 (2.76 to 5.34) per tertile). Comorbidity, depressive symptoms and smoking were also associated with repetitive consultations.ConclusionsA modest proportion of subjects with repetitive consultations is responsible for every second doctor’s consultation due to cough. The typical features of these subjects could be identified. These findings can help to focus on certain subpopulations in order to plan interventions to reduce the healthcare burden attributable to cough.

Download Full-text

Studying and More: Part-Time Employment as an Educational Challenge?

Journal of Medical Psychology ◽

10.3233/jmp-200024 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 57-63

Author(s):

Silke Heuse ◽

Cathrin Dietze ◽

Daniel Fodor ◽

Edgar Voltmer

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Perceived Stress ◽

Health Care Professionals ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Study Data ◽

Future Health ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Professional Students ◽

Educational Challenge ◽

Part Time

Background: Future health-care professionals face stress both during education and in later professional life. Next to educational trainings, many students are forced to assume part-time employment. Objective: Applying the Job Demands-Resources Model to the educational context, we investigate which role part-time employment plays next to health-care professional students’ education-specific demands and resources in the prediction of perceived stress. Method: In this cross-sectional study, data from N = 161 health-care students were analysed, testing moderation models. Results: Education-specific demands were associated with higher and education-specific resources with lower amounts of perceived stress. Part-time employment functioned as moderator, i.e. demands were less associated with stress experiences in students who were employed part-time. Conclusion: Identifying part-time employment as a resource rather than a demand illustrates the need to understand students’ individual influences on stress. Both educators and students will benefit from reflecting these resources to support students’ stress management.

Download Full-text

Several Components of the Lebanese Mediterranean Diet and Particular Sociodemographic, Medical and Lifestyle Factors may be Associated with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease in Adults: A Cross-sectional Study in a Middle Eastern Setting

Current Nutrition & Food Science ◽

10.2174/1573401316999200518095448 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 82-93

Author(s):

Mary-Joe Youssef ◽

Antoine Aoun ◽

Aline Issa ◽

Lana El-Osta ◽

Nada El-Osta ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Logistic Regression ◽

Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease ◽

Perceived Stress ◽

Dietary Habits ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Lifestyle Factors ◽

P Value ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Gerd Symptoms

Background: The prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is increasing worldwide and the related chronic symptoms can be associated with morbidity and poor quality of life. Objective: The objective of this study was to identify foods and beverages consumed by the Lebanese population, dietary habits, socio-demographic and lifestyle factors, health parameters and perceived stress, implicated in increasing GERD symptoms. Methods: This observational cross-sectional study was carried among Lebanese adults in 2016. A convenient sample of 264 participants was equally divided into a GERD group and a control group. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle, health status and dietary habits including Lebanese traditional dishes were collected. The perceived stress scale (PSS) was also used to assess the participants’ perception of stress. Logistic regression analyses were conducted with GERD symptoms (presence or absence) being the dependent variable. Results: The GERD symptoms were significantly associated with age (-p-value=0.017), family history of GERD symptoms (-p-value<0.001), smoking (-p-value=0.003) and chronic medical conditions (-p-value<.001). Regarding the dietary factors, participants who ate three meals or less/day, between meals and outside homes were 2.5, 2.9 and 2.4 times at a higher risk of experiencing GERD symptoms than others, respectively. Moreover, the logistic regression model showed that the GERD symptoms were significantly associated with the consumption of coffee (-p-value=0.037), Lebanese sweets (-p-value=0.027), fried foods (-p-value=0.031), ‘Labneh’ with garlic (-p-value<0.001), pomegranate molasses (-p-value=0.011), and tomatoes (-p-value=0.007). Conclusion: Some specific lifestyle factors and components of the Lebanese Mediterranean diet could be associated with GERD symptoms.

Download Full-text

Stress Perceived by University Health Sciences Students, 1 Year after COVID-19 Pandemic

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18105233 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (10) ◽

pp. 5233

Author(s):

Yolanda Marcén-Román ◽

Angel Gasch-Gallen ◽

Irene Isabel Vela Martín de la Mota ◽

Estela Calatayud ◽

Isabel Gómez-Soria ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Nursing Students ◽

University Students ◽

Perceived Stress ◽

Psychological Health ◽

Health Sciences ◽

Online Questionnaire ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Occupational Therapy Students ◽

Health Sciences Students ◽

The Impact

Today’s COVID-19 situation can affect university Health Sciences students’ psychological health. This study aimed to analyze the stress caused by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Health Sciences students from the University of Zaragoza (Spain) almost 1 year after the pandemic began. This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted with a sample of 252 university students who completed a self-administered online questionnaire. It evaluated the impact of perceived stress with a modified scale (PSS-10-C), and assessed anxiety and depression on the Goldberg scale. Students presented stress (13.1%), anxiety (71.4%) and depression (81%). Females (81.7%) and the third-year Occupational Therapy students (p = 0.010) reported perceived stress. Nursing students perceived less stress (OR: 0.148; 95% CI: 0.026 to 0.842). University students developed stress and anxiety due to COVID-19 almost 1 year after the pandemic began. Psychological support measures for these groups should be prioritized.

Download Full-text

Psychological Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Hungarian Adults

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17249565 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (24) ◽

pp. 9565

Author(s):

Csanád Szabó ◽

Judit Pukánszky ◽

Lajos Kemény

Keyword(s):

Perceived Stress ◽

Psychological Effects ◽

Measuring Instruments ◽

Online Questionnaire ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Psychological Variables ◽

Ways Of Coping ◽

General Anxiety Disorder ◽

General Anxiety ◽

Patient Health

We aimed to explore psychological effects of the coronavirus pandemic on Hungarian adults in the time of the national quarantine situation in May 2020.We conducted a cross-sectional observational study with the use of an anonymous online questionnaire that consisted of 65 items. The following measuring instruments were used: Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10); The General Anxiety Disorder Assessment (GAD)-2; The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-2; European Quality of Life Visual Analogue Scale (EQ-VAS); Self-administered inventory of complaints (Hungarian questionnaire); Shortened (Hungarian) version of the Ways of Coping Questionnaire; 2 open-ended questions to examine the participants’ mood and ways of coping during the pandemic. The data of 431 participants were analyzed, their average age was 47.53 ± 11.66 years, and the percentage of females was 90%. The mean of participants’ scores were the following: 19.34 ± 7.97 for perceived stress, 73.05 ± 21.73 for health status, and 8.68 ± 4.65 for neurotic complaints. Thirty-four and one-tenth percent of participants were depressed, 36.2% were anxious, and they tended to use problem-focused coping strategies more frequently than emotion-focused ones. We found significant correlations between all of the seven examined psychological variables. Our results highlight the importance of stress management in the psychological support of healthy adults in quarantine situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Download Full-text

Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Associations between Peer Television Co-viewing and Media Internalization in Adolescent Girls and Boys

Journal of Youth and Adolescence ◽

10.1007/s10964-021-01437-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ann Rousseau ◽

Rachel F. Rodgers

Keyword(s):

Adolescent Girls ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Adolescent Girls And Boys ◽

Longitudinal Associations ◽

Media Internalization

Download Full-text

Stress in obstructive sleep apnea

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-91996-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Jasmine L. Wong ◽

Fernando Martinez ◽

Andrea P. Aguila ◽

Amrita Pal ◽

Ravi S. Aysola ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Obstructive Sleep Apnea ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Sleep Apnea ◽

Perceived Stress ◽

Stress Reduction ◽

Psychological Symptoms ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

General Anxiety Disorder ◽

Obstructive Sleep

AbstractPeople with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) often have psychological symptoms including depression and anxiety, which are commonly treated with anti-depression or anti-anxiety interventions. Psychological stress is a related symptom with different intervention targets that may also improve mental state, but this symptom is not well characterized in OSA. We therefore aimed to describe stress in relation to other psychological symptoms. We performed a prospective cross-sectional study of 103 people, 44 untreated OSA (mean ± s.d. age: 51.2 ± 13.9 years, female/male 13/31) and 57 healthy control participants (age: 46.3 ± 13.8 years, female/male 34/23). We measured stress (Perceived Stress Scale; PSS), excessive daytime sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale; ESS), depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire; PHQ-9), and anxiety symptoms (General Anxiety Disorder; GAD-7). We compared group means with independent samples t-tests and calculated correlations between variables. Mean symptom levels were higher in OSA than control, including PSS (mean ± s.d.: OSA = 15.3 ± 6.9, control = 11.4 ± 5.5; P = 0.002), GAD-7 (OSA = 4.8 ± 5.0, control = 2.1 ± 3.9; P = 0.02), PHQ-9 (OSA = 6.9 ± 6.1, control = 2.6 ± 3.8; P = 0.003) and ESS (OSA = 8.1 ± 5.3, control = 5.0 ± 3.3; P = 0.03). Similar OSA-vs-control differences appeared in males, but females only showed significant differences in PHQ-9 and ESS, not PSS or GAD-7. PSS correlated strongly with GAD-7 and PHQ-9 across groups (R = 0.62–0.89), and moderately with ESS. Perceived stress is high in OSA, and closely related to anxiety and depressive symptoms. The findings support testing stress reduction in OSA.

Download Full-text

Perceived stress and depressive symptoms not neuropsychiatric symptoms predict caregiver burden in Alzheimer’s disease: a cross-sectional study

BMC Geriatrics ◽

10.1186/s12877-021-02136-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Manee Pinyopornpanish ◽

Kanokporn Pinyopornpanish ◽

Atiwat Soontornpun ◽

Surat Tanprawate ◽

Angkana Nadsasarn ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Caregiver Burden ◽

Perceived Stress ◽

Neuropsychiatric Symptoms ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Assessment Tools ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional

Abstract Background Caregiver burden affects the caregiver’s health and is related to the quality of care received by patients. This study aimed to determine the extent to which caregivers feel burdened when caring for patients with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and to investigate the predictors for caregiving burden. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted. One hundred two caregivers of patients with AD at Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital, a tertiary care hospital, were recruited. Assessment tools included the perceived stress scale (stress), PHQ-9 (depressive symptoms), Zarit Burden Interview-12 (burden), Clinical Dementia Rating (disease severity), Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaires (neuropsychiatric symptoms), and Barthel Activities Daily Living Index (dependency). The mediation analysis model was used to determine any associations. Results A higher level of severity of neuropsychiatric symptoms (r = 0.37, p < 0.01), higher level of perceived stress (r = 0.57, p < 0.01), and higher level of depressive symptoms (r = 0.54, p < 0.01) were related to a higher level of caregiver burden. The direct effect of neuropsychiatric symptoms on caregiver burden was fully mediated by perceived stress and depressive symptoms (r = 0.13, p = 0.177), rendering an increase of 46% of variance in caregiver burden by this parallel mediation model. The significant indirect effect of neuropsychiatric symptoms by these two mediators was (r = 0.21, p = 0.001). Conclusion Caregiver burden is associated with patients’ neuropsychiatric symptoms indirectly through the caregiver’s depressive symptoms and perception of stress. Early detection and provision of appropriate interventions and skills to manage stress and depression could be useful in reducing and preventing caregiver burden.

Download Full-text