Investigation of stressful life events in patients with systemic sclerosis

作     者：Yue CHEN Ji-zhong HUANG Yu QIANG Jin WANG Mao-mao HAN 

作者机构：Department of Geriatrics the First Affiliated Hospital School of Medicine Zhejiang University Hangzhou 310009 China Department of Surgery Hangzhou Tongji Hospital Hangzhou 310012 China 

出 版 物：《Journal of Zhejiang University-Science B(Biomedicine & Biotechnology)》 (浙江大学学报（英文版）B辑（生物医学与生物技术）)

年 卷 期：2008年第9卷第11期

页      面：853-856页

核心收录：

学科分类：1002[医学-临床医学] 100201[医学-内科学(含：心血管病、血液病、呼吸系病、消化系病、内分泌与代谢病、肾病、风湿病、传染病)] 10[医学] 

基　　金：Project (No. B340406052) supported by the Science and Technology Foundation of Shanghai Railway Bureau of China 

主　　题：Systemic sclerosis (SSc) Life events Stress Pathogenesis 

摘      要：Objective: To assess the occurrence of stressful life events in the year before the initiation of systemic sclerosis. Methods: A consecutive series of 40 patients with systemic sclerosis (mean age (56.3±11.9) years, mean disease duration (4.3±3.1) years; 32 females and 8 males), including 28 with diffuse cutaneous scleroderma and 12 with limited cutaneous scleroderma, were evaluated. A control group of 40 healthy subjects free of systemic sclerosis also was included. Socioeconomic status was inves- tigated and Paykel s interview for recent life events (a semi-structured research interview covering 64 life events) was conducted. Results: Patients with systemic sclerosis showed higher percentages of lower education (72.5%) and working class (82.5%), and reported more stressful life events (P0.05), such as exits (P0.05), undesirable events (P0.01), and uncontrolled events (P0.001), when compared with the control. More events that had an objective negative impact (P0.001) were also reported in systemic sclerosis patients than in the control. These results are in accordance with a multifactorial model of pathogenesis in systemic sclerosis. Conclusion: We reported a strong relationship between stressful life events and the initiation of systemic sclerosis. Our findings are consistent with current understanding of the extensive links of behavioral responses to stress with neurophysiological and biochemical processes.