 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Christina Halford, MD1, Ingrid Andersén, PhD2, and Bengt B. Arnetz, MD, PhD1. (1) Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Section for Social medicine, Uppsala Science Park, Uppsala, SE-751 85, Sweden, +46-18-611 35 89, christina.halford@pubcare.uu.se, (2) Dept of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Section for social medicine, Uppsala University, Uppsala Science Park, Uppsala, SE-751 85, Sweden
Background: Stress-related ill health has during the latest decade become a major public health problem. It has thereby become increasingly important to develop early risk-indicators of chronic stress.
Objective: To study the relationship between a six-item scale of mental energy and endocrine measures of chronic stress.
Method: A longitudinal study of 102 healthy, middle-aged men. Written questionnaires and blood samples were collected at baseline and at follow-up, one year later.
Results: There were consistent statistically significant positive associations between mental energy, GHQ, and vital exhaustion. Self-esteem (r=0.33 and 0.45, p<0.001), sense of coherence (r=0.38 and 0.51, p<0.001), and sleep quality (r=0.44, p<0.001 and 0.30, p=0.003) were at each point in time significantly and positively associated with mental energy. S-prolactin was inversely associated with mental energy at follow-up (r=-0.26, p<0.05), but not at baseline. In multiple regression analyses, higher s-prolactin and poorer self-esteem at baseline were associated with poorer mental energy at follow-up (adj R²=0,20, p <0.05). No associations were found between mental energy and levels of s-testosterone or s-cortisol.
Conclusions: In this population of healthy middle-aged men, our results partially lend biological support to the notion of mental energy as a potential indicator of chronic stress. Our results underline the importance of biological as well as psychosocial measures being used in future research concerned with increasing our understanding of early risk-indicators of chronic stress-reactions.
Learning Objectives:
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.