 | 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 Anders�n, 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 R�=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.