Perceived mental stress in women associated with psychosomatic symptoms, but not mortality: observations from the Population Study of Women in Gothenburg, Sweden

Abstract

PurposeTo investigate possible association between mental stress and psychosomatic symptoms, socioeconomic status, lifestyle, as well as incident mortality in a middle-aged female population followed over 37 years.MethodsA prospective observational study initiated in 1968–1969, including 1462 women aged 60, 54, 50, 46, and 38 years, with follow-ups in 1974–1975, 1980–1981, and 2000–2001, was performed. Measures included self-reported mental stress as well as psychosomatic symptoms and smoking, physical activity, total cholesterol, S-triglycerides, body mass index, waist–hip ratio, blood pressure, socioeconomic status and mortality.ResultsSmoking, not being single, and not working outside home were strongly associated with reported mental stress at baseline. Women who reported high mental stress in 1968–1969 were more likely to report presence of abdominal symptoms (odds ratio [OR] = 1.85, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.39–2.46), headache/migraine (OR = 2.04, 95% CI: 1.53–2.72), frequent infections (OR = 1.75, 95% CI: 1.14–2.70), and musculoskeletal symptoms (OR = 1.70, 95% CI: 1.30–2.23) than women who did not report mental stress. Women without these symptoms at baseline 1968–1969, but with perceived mental stress were more likely to subsequently report incident abdominal symptoms (OR = 2.15, 95% CI: 1.39–3.34), headache/migraine (OR = 2.27, 95% CI: 1.48–3.48) and frequent infections (OR = 2.21, 95% CI: 1.12–4.36) in 1974–1975 than women without mental stress in 1968–1969. There was no association between perceived mental stress at baseline and mortality over 37 years of follow-up.ConclusionWomen reporting mental stress had a higher frequency of psychosomatic symptoms than women who did not report these symptoms. Not working outside home and smoking rather than low socioeconomic status per se was associated with higher stress levels. Perception of high mental stress was not associated with increased mortality.

Work-related stress in midlife is associated with higher number of mobility limitation in older age—results from the FLAME study

“…Similar results have been presented by Hange et al (2013) who did not find a relationship between stress and mortality in a 37-year follow-up, although contrasting results have been presented (Ahola et al 2010). Although our results suggested that constant perceived decrease in cognition was associated with lower mortality, these estimates should be interpreted cautiously due to a limited number of participants in the subgroups.…”

The Mediating Role of Mental Adjustment in the Relationship between Perceived Stress and Depressive Symptoms in Hematological Cancer Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Research has consistently reported that psychosomatic symptoms are caused by stress in neuroscience, biology and psychology [ 15 ]. Stress can be considered as the state in which environmental demands or mental strain exceed a person’s regulatory capacity [ 16 ].It is reported that acute and chronic stressful life events in early life had substantial influence on the later development of depression [ 17 , 18 ].…”

Examination of the potential association of stress with morbidity and mortality outcomes in patient with heart failure

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