Life Event Scores Research Articles

Impact pathways of personality and psychosocial stress on depression among adult community residents in China: a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis.

Depression is a common mental illness with a high prevalence rate and is a significant contributor to the global burden of diseases. Various factors are associated with depression, and its etiology is complex. Instead of focusing on single-factor effects, this study aimed to explore a combination of high-risk factor sets for depression among adult community residents. We conducted a cross-sectional survey in Shenzhen, China, from January 2021 to March 2021. A simple sampling method was used to enroll participants. A total of 1,965 adult residents completed the survey and were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised Short Scale for Chinese (EPQ-RSC), and the Psychosocial Stress Survey for Groups (PSSG). The fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis method was used to explore the high-risk factor sets for depression among adult community residents. The prevalence of depression among the surveyed adult residents in Shenzhen was 6.36%. The mean scores of PHQ-9 were higher among women and unmarried residents. The combination of low extroversion (e) and high neuroticism (N) in personality traits, along with high scores for life events (V), negative emotional responses to events (G), positive emotional responses to events (O), and positive coping styles to events (I) (denoted as e*N*V*G*O*I) constituted a high-risk factor set for depression. The overall consistency was 0.843, and the overall coverage was 0.330. Our study suggested that stressful life events together with personality traits including neuroticism and introversion serve as crucial factors for depression among adult community residents, regardless of the coping strategies they adopt. This study provides data for developing comprehensive interventions such as regulating neuroticism and introversion levels and reducing stressors to prevent the occurrence of depression among adult community residents.

The longitudinal relationship between life events and loneliness in adolescence: A twin study.

The aim of the study was to examine associations between life events and self-assessed loneliness in adolescence. We used data from a Norwegian population-based twin sample including seven birth cohorts (N = 2,879, 56% females). The participants completed self-report questionnaires three times throughout adolescence, with 2 years in between (i.e., 12-18 years old at Wave 1). By using a random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM), we were able to separate stable influences in the measured constructs from the within-person changes at each measurement occasion. In addition, using data from twins allowed us to examine to what degree the associations between life events and loneliness were genetic and/or environmental in nature. The results showed moderate stability of both loneliness and aggregation scores of life events throughout adolescence. The life events were assigned to clusters based on their independence (i.e., events considered dependent or independent on a person's behavior) and desirability (i.e., positive or negative). The time-stable between-person variance in all three measures, loneliness and person-dependent positive and negative life events, could almost exclusively be accounted for by genetic factors. However, as expected, also shared environmental factors influenced person-independent life events. The associations between time-stable between-person variance in loneliness and life events were small, and nearly exclusively due to shared genetic influences. Furthermore, life events do not seem to predict changes in loneliness or vice versa. In conclusion, the self-reported levels of loneliness throughout adolescence seems to be independent of life events. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Immature defense mechanisms mediate the relationship between negative life events and depressive symptoms.

This study aimed to analyze the patterns of life events (LEs) and defense mechanisms in outpatients with depression and investigate the mediating role of defense mechanisms in the association between LEs and depressive symptoms in a psychosomatic outpatient sample in China. All of 2,747 outpatients (aged 18-65) from psychosomatic department were investigated in this study. LEs, depressive symptoms, and defense mechanisms were assessed by the Life Events Scale (LES), Patient-Health-Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ), respectively. Based on the optimal cut-off point of PHQ-9, 1840 (67.0%) patients had a PHQ-9 score of 10 or higher (depression group), and 907 (33.0%) had a score below 10 (non-depression group). The scores of Negative Life Events (NLEs), immature and intermediate defense mechanisms in the depression group were significantly higher than those in the non-depression group, while the scores of mature defense mechanisms were the opposite (p < 0.001). NLEs was directly related to depressive symptoms (b = 0.010, p < 0.001), and significant indirect effect via immature defense mechanisms (b = 0.008, p < 0.001) was observed. Immature defense mechanisms play an important mediating role in the relationship between NLEs and depressive symptoms. Helping patients improving defense mechanisms and dealing with NLEs may be of great help in the treatment of relevant patients.

Do non-traumatic stressful life events and ageing negatively impact working memory performance and do they interact to further impair working memory performance?

Stress and normal ageing produce allostatic load, which may lead to difficulties with cognition thereby degrading quality of life. The current study's objective was to assess whether ageing and cumulative stress interact to accelerate cognitive decline. With 60 participants, Marshall et al. found that ageing and cumulative stress interact significantly to impair working memory performance in older adults, suggesting vulnerability to the cumulative effects of life events beyond 60 years old. To replicate and extend this finding, we increased the sample size by conducting 3 independent studies with 156 participants and improved the statistical methods by conducting an iterative Bayesian meta-analysis with Bayes factors. Bayes factors deliver a more comprehensive result because they provide evidence for either the null hypothesis (H0), the alternative hypothesis (H1) or for neither hypothesis due to evidence not being sufficiently sensitive. Young (18-35 yrs) and older (60-85 yrs) healthy adults were categorised as high or low stress based on their life events score derived from the Life Events Scale for Students or Social Readjustment Rating Scale, respectively. We measured accuracy and reaction time on a 2-back working memory task to provide: a) Bayes factors and b) Bayesian meta-analysis, which iteratively added each study's effect sizes to evaluate the overall strength of evidence that ageing, cumulative stress and/or the combination of the two detrimentally affect working memory performance. Using a larger sample (N = 156 vs. N = 60) and a more powerful statistical approach, we did not replicate the robust age by cumulative stress interaction effect found by Marshall et al.. The effects of ageing and cumulative stress also fell within the anecdotal range (⅓<BF<3). We therefore conclude that there was inconclusive statistical evidence, as measured with a life events scale, that ageing and cumulative life stress interact to accelerate cognitive decline.

The prevalence of SCT in China, its comorbidity with ADHD and its association with life events and parental-rearing behaviors

Although sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) symptoms are often observed in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), an increasing number of studies have highlighted its uniqueness. Nevertheless, no national survey on SCT among children and adolescents has been conducted in China. Hence, this research aims to study SCT in China and to evaluate the differences between SCT and ADHD symptoms by comparing their risk factors in terms of life events (LE) and parental rearing behaviors (PRB). This cross-sectional study used data from a survey on 71,929 children and adolescents in 5 province-level regions in China to study the incidence and demographic information of SCT in the Chinese population. Subsequently, the study investigated the comorbidity of ADHD and SCT, and conducted three logistic regressions on the LE and PRB scores to predict whether participants develop symptoms of ADHD or SCT, or neither symptom. 6658 participants were allocated into the SCT group, and the weighted point prevalence of SCT was 9.78%. 36.34% of participants with ADHD (n = 676) were found to demonstrate SCT symptoms, whereas no statistically significant difference was observed in its comorbidity to the three ADHD subtypes (χ2 = 1.668, p > 0.05, Δ = 2). The regression results on the presence or absence of ADHD revealed paternal excessive-interference and rejection, and maternal favoring were associated with ADHD diagnosis, whereas paternal punishment and favoring and maternal emotional warmth was related to the absence of ADHD symptoms. Academic stress and maternal excessive-interference were associated with SCT symptoms, and maternal emotional warmth associated with SCT absence. Concerning the presence of ADHD-only or SCT-only symptoms, LE adaptation was found to relate to SCT-only symptoms, while PRB paternal rejection and maternal favoring were associated with ADHD-only symptoms. While evidencing the high prevalence of SCT in China, our findings supported that although ADHD and SCT were highly comorbid, they may be considered two independent disorders with different risk factors. Specifically, participants with SCT symptoms are more vulnerable to stress from LE and tend to face more maladjustment than ADHD and normally-developing participants, and maternal rearing behaviours are the key factors to SCT symptoms. SCT brings global challenges in its diagnosis and treatment, and the challenge is more severe in a mentally stressful environment. Therefore, stress management and SCT etiology studies are recommended.

Socio-demographic correlates and psychosocial stressors among suicide attempters attending a tertiary care general hospital

Abstract Introduction: Suicide is a rapidly growing and critical public health concern in India and around the world. Interpersonal, social, familial, psychological along with genetic vulnerabilities were important risk factors for suicidal attempts. Methods: This was a hospital-based cross-sectional study done at King George Hospital, Visakhapatnam. All the suicide attempters admitted to the General Medicine department were evaluated at the psychiatric department. A total of 117 patients were included in our study with convenient sampling. Beck’s suicide intent scale, Presumptive stressful life event scale, and semi-structured proforma for socio-demographic and clinical variables were used to assess the study participants. Results: Financial struggles (19.6%) and conflict with family members (14.5%) were the stressful life events among most of the suicide attempts. Most of the study sample used pesticide consumption (20.5%) as the commonest mode of suicidal attempt. The majority of the suicide attempters (53%) had medium suicidal intent. There was a significant association between marriage and stressful life event score (p=0.001). The use of pesticides was significantly higher among men than women (p=0.002) and the use of household agents was significantly high among women than men (p=0.013). Conclusion: Psychosocial stressors also play an important role in attempting suicide and hence to prevent suicidal attempts, there is a need for the development of innovative strategies to decrease the stigma, to improve coping skills and to promote help-seeking from mental health services.

Mood and anxiety spectrum disorders detected by neuropsychiatric interviews in young adults born preterm: A prospective cohort study.

Psychopathology has not yet been studied beyond pediatric age for all degrees of prematurity, including late-preterm, particularly in those who grew up with no apparent neurodevelopmental sequelae. This study aimed to examine psychopathological outcome following preterm birth and admission to neonatal intensive care in young adults without major neurodevelopmental and psychopathological problems that emerged during childhood. An Italian single-center prospective cohort study. Eighty-nine young adults (40 admitted to neonatal intensive care unit with less than 37 weeks of gestation and no medical history of other neurological or psychiatric conditions in childhood and 49 healthy peers born at term, matched by age, sex, and education) underwent neuropsychiatric interviews at the age of 20±1 years; MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview, Beck Depression Inventory and Barratt Impulsive Scale, results were correlated to individual neonatal data and cognitive measures. We found a significantly higher prevalence of psychopathology at MINI score (22.5% vs. 4.2%; χ2=6.7; p=0,010) and prevalence of previous stressful life events in the preterm compared to at-term group. B.D.I. (testing depression) and BIS-11(testing impulsivity) did not highlight a statistically significant difference between the groups. All patients had average I.Q., a statistically significant difference (p<0.001) was observed between groups with a better performance in controls than cases. Preterm infants attaining young adult age with otherwise typical development during childhood are at risk of psychopathology and lower resilience to stressful life events. The MINI interview could be a useful tool to highlight the psychopathology of preterm infants attaining adult age.

Drinking motives, personality traits and life stressors-identifying pathways to harmful alcohol use in adolescence using a panel network approach.

Models of alcohol use risk suggest that drinking motives represent the most proximal risk factors on which more distal factors converge. However, little is known about how distinct risk factors influence each other and alcohol use on different temporal scales (within a given moment versus over time). We aimed to estimate the dynamic associations of distal (personality and life stressors) and proximal (drinking motives) risk factors, and their relationship to alcohol use in adolescence and early adulthood using a novel graphical vector autoregressive (GVAR) panel network approach. We estimated panel networks on data from the IMAGEN study, a longitudinal European cohort study following adolescents across three waves (aged 16, 19 and 22 years). Our sample consisted of 1829 adolescents (51% females) who reported alcohol use on at least one assessment wave. Risk factors included personality traits (NEO-FFI: neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness; SURPS: impulsivity and sensation-seeking), stressful life events (LEQ: sum scores of stressful life events), and drinking motives [drinking motives questionnaire (DMQ): social, enhancement, conformity, coping anxiety and coping depression]. We assessed alcohol use [alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT): quantity and frequency] and alcohol-related problems (AUDIT: related problems). Within a given moment, social [partial correlation (pcor) = 0.17] and enhancement motives (pcor = 0.15) co-occurred most strongly with drinking quantity and frequency, while coping depression motives (pcor = 0.13), openness (pcor = 0.05) and impulsivity (pcor = 0.09) were related to alcohol-related problems. The temporal network showed no predictive associations between distal risk factors and drinking motives. Social motives (beta = 0.21), previous alcohol use (beta = 0.11) and openness (beta = 0.10) predicted alcohol-related problems over time (all P < 0.01). Heavy and frequent alcohol use, along with social drinking motives, appear to be key targets for preventing the development of alcohol-related problems throughout late adolescence. We found no evidence for personality traits and life stressors predisposing towards distinct drinking motives over time.

Pilot mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: prevalence rates from semi-structured interviews, and associated vulnerability and protective factors.

Pilots are a unique occupational group who perform a specialised job and face significant stressors. Pilot mental health has received increased attention since Germanwings Flight 9525; however, this research has largely focused on general anxiety, depression, and suicide and relied on a questionnaire-based methodology. This approach is likely to miss various mental health issues that may affect pilot wellbeing, leaving the prevalence of mental health issues in aviation unclear. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have a particular impact on the mental health and wellbeing of pilots, who experienced the devastating effect of COVID-19 on the industry. In the present study, we conducted a comprehensive assessment of 73 commercial pilots during the COVID-19 pandemic, using the DIAMOND semi-structured diagnostic interview and explored possible associated vulnerability and protective factors, including life event stressors, personality, passion, lifestyle factors, and coping strategies. The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on aviation during the time of this study, affecting 95% of participants. The diagnostic results revealed over one third of pilots had symptoms of a diagnoseable mental health disorder. Anxiety disorders were the most commonly found disorders, followed by Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Adjustment Disorder, and Depressive Disorders. Pilots' high life event scores placed them at an increased risk for the development of stress-related illness, though did not explain which pilots had mental health difficulties in this study. Regression analysis supported a diathesis-stress model for pilot mental health, with disagreeableness and obsessive passion contributing to pilots' development of mental health issues, and nutrition as the most important protective factor. This study, though limited to the COVID-19 pandemic, provides a valuable precedent for a more thorough assessment of pilot mental health, and contributes to the broader understanding of pilot mental health, including suggestions to target factors associated with the development of mental health issues.

Coping strategies in bipolar patients: A comparative study with siblings and healthy controls

IntroductionData regarding coping strategies used by bipolar patients to deal with psychosocial stress and their consequences in adaptational outcomes are scant. Moreover, family studies have reported the presence of several similarities between bipolar patients and their relatives regarding genetics, biology, personality traits, temperaments and stressful lived life experiences. Bipolar patients and their siblings had significantly higher global score of life events and more events in the field of work, socio-family events and health than control subjects. This might suggest that patients with bipolar disorder would be distinguished from their family members by the coping strategies they use to deal with stress.ObjectivesIn this study, we aimed to compare perceived stress and coping strategies of remitted bipolar I patients with those of their siblings and controls.MethodsA descriptive and comparative study of case-control type was conducted. Were included 46 bipolar I patients, 46 siblings and 50 controls. The three groups were matched for age and sex. Assessments of perceived stress and coping strategies were performed using the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the 28-item Brief COPE respectively.ResultsMean age of bipolar I patients was 39 ± 13 years. Thirty-one patients (67%) reported family history of one or more psychiatric disorders.Mean duration of bipolar disorder was 11.83 ± 9.92 years.There was no significant difference between the three groups on PSS scores. Bipolar patients and siblings were more likely to use emotion-focused coping strategies than controls (p=0.001). Controls used problem-focused coping strategies more than bipolar patients (p = 0.02). Compared to controls, bipolar patients were less likely to use active coping and planning, but they showed higher scores in the dimensions of humor, religion and behavioral disengagement with intergroup p value: 0.02; 0.019; 0.002 respectively.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that bipolar I patients were more likely to use maladaptive coping strategies to deal with stress than their siblings. Based on this observation, it seems advisable to study coping strategies used by bipolar patients, in order to reinforce adaptive strategies and to reduce maladaptive ones.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

STUDY OF LIFE EVENTS AND PREMORBID FUNCTION IN RECENT ONSET SCHIZOPHRENIA

Background and Objectives: Stressful life events preceded onset of psychosis like schizophrenia. Factors which help to identify disease at an earlier stage enable to seek early medical care. This study aims to compare occurrence of life events in subjects presenting 1st time with schizophrenia in the preceding year and to assess premorbid function of individuals. Methods: This was a case–control study with subjects attending psychiatry outpatient department for the 1st time with schizophrenia and controls from general population. After obtaining informed consent, sociodemographic data were collected along with premorbid functioning using premorbid adjustment scale (PAS), presumptive stressful life events scale (PSLES), positive and negative syndrome scale, premorbid schizoid and schizotypal assessment scale, and global assessment functioning scale (GAF). Data analysis was done using SPSS 22 software. p&lt;0.05 was considered significant. Results: Sixty cases and 60 controls were compared. Mean age was 30.45±9.21 years, 55% were male, 56.66% were married, 68.33% were from rural background, and 81.66% were from low socioeconomic status. Mean number of stressful life events in the preceding year, PSLES score, PAS scale, Premorbid schizoid and schizotypal traits scale, and GAF scale were all significantly higher in cases. Married men showed higher stress and life events score. Conclusion: Subjects with schizophrenia experience severe stress before onset of illness and showed more premorbid social dysfunction. Married subjects experience severe stress than others. Duration of untreated illness was less in urban subjects and those with positive family history but had no correlation with severity.

EVALUATION OF STRESSFUL LIFE EVENTS AND SUICIDAL INTENT IN PATIENTS WITH DELIBERATE SELF HARM

Background: Deliberate Self Harm (DSH) is a psychiatric emergency. Stressors in life, suicidal intent and social variables like marital status, family, and social support are among the many determinants of DSH and have shown to be strongly associated with suicide. Aim was Methodology to evaluate stressful life events and suicidal intent in those who attempted DSH. Sixty consecutive patients admitted with attempted suicide were interviewed. Deliberate Self Harm Inventory, Beck Suicidal Intent Scale and Presumptive Stressful Life Event Scale were used along with a semi structured proforma during interview. Data was analysed using appropriate statistical tests. The demographical mean age of the Results participants was 25.2 years and 63% of participants were females.71.1% of the patients had stressful life event score between 101 and 200. About 66.7% had medium intent and 88.3% participants had self harm through poisoning. Patients of a Conclusion ttempted suicide had medium suicidal intent and poisoning was the commonly preferred method of self harm. This study implies that suicide attempters should be specically looked for suicidal intent and their coping styles, so as to plan appropriate psychiatric therapy to prevent future suicide attempt.

The relationship between life events, life satisfaction, and coping style of college students

ABSTRACT We aimed to investigate the life events, life satisfaction, and coping style of college students, and to assess the relationship between them by performing mediating effect analysis. Our findings may provide a scientific basis for promoting the mental health of college students. Students in a medical college were selected using grade-stratified cluster sampling, and administered a standardized questionnaire survey. Out of 2,000 participants, 1827 participants provided valid questionnaires (response rate: 91.4%). The mean scores of life satisfaction and life events were 181.39 ± 30.28 and 19.32 ± 15.62, respectively. The mean score of coping style was 14.34 ± 7.54, which reflected positive coping style. Analysis of life satisfaction, life events, and factor scores showed that different grades, sibling status (whether the respondent was the only child in the family or not), family location, and life events had a significant association with life satisfaction (p < 0.001). There were significant differences in coping style between male and female students, and between students in different grades (p < 0.001). Positive coping style was found to play a partial mediating role between life events and life satisfaction, and the mediating effect accounted for 33.2% of the total effect. These results suggest that both life events and coping styles are related to college students’ life satisfaction. The impact of life events on life satisfaction can be adjusted by psychological interventions to develop coping styles that can help promote the mental health of college students.

Posttraumatic growth and postpartum depression in women after childbirth: The moderating role of postpartum negative life events.

This study aimed to investigate the implications of postpartum negative life events on postpartum depression and posttraumatic growth in women after childbirth. A sample of 280 postpartum women at a level III hospital in China provided data on postpartum depression, negative life events, and posttraumatic growth with a cross-sectional design. The scores of both postpartum depression and negative life events exhibited a quadratic correlation with posttraumatic growth in women after childbirth, and negative life events significantly moderated the associations between depression and overall posttraumatic growth and its three dimensions: personal strength, spirit change, and relating to others. Women can experience positive psychological growth after childbirth, and this study provides new evidence of an interaction between postpartum depression and negative life events in the prediction of psychological growth, highlighting the moderating role of negative life events. This study could help direct mental health professionals to target interventions that provide more psychological support to reduce the impact of depression and negative life events, which will be conducive to improving women's psychological growth.

The Association Between Life Events and Incidence of Hypertension Among Government Employees in China: A Prospective Cohort Study.

BackgroundHypertension (HTN) is a global public health concern. However, the association between life events (LEs) and HTN is complex. Thus, we conducted a prospective cohort study to explore this complex association.MethodsA total of 8,077 government employees without HTN were recruited through cluster sampling between 2018 and 2019 in Hunan Province, China. At baseline, information regarding sociodemographic characteristics, LEs, and behavioral factors was collected. After the 1-year follow-up, the participants were revisited to obtain the HTN diagnosis. Crude and adjusted Poisson regression models were constructed to calculate the incidence rate ratios (IRRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Cubic regression spline models were used to visualize the trends between LEs and HTN IRRs. Interactive and subgroup analyses were also performed.ResultsThe 1-year HTN incidence rate among government employees in Hunan province was 4.30% (95% CI: 3.86–4.74%). LEs were associated with a higher HTN risk (IRR, 1.02; 95% CI, 1.00–1.04). When calculating positive and negative LEs scores separately, only the latter was a risk factor for HTN incidence (IRR, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.03–1.06); conversely, positive LEs reduced the risk (IRR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.85–0.96). Compared with patients in the lowest quartile of LEs score, those in quartiles two (IRR, 1.28; 95% CI, 0.96–1.71), three (IRR, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.04–1.96), and four (IRR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.26–2.37) were at progressively higher risk. In restricted spline curves, a non-linear association was noted between LEs and HTN risk. Regarding the subcategories of LEs, work-related LEs, personal LEs, and all subcategories of negative LEs were associated with an increased risk of HTN. However, among positive LEs, only the family-related cases were associated with a lower risk of HTN.ConclusionLEs had a non-linear association with an increased risk of HTN. Negative LEs were risk factors for HTN incidence, whereas positive LEs reduced the risk of HTN. Thus, the importance of LEs should be highlighted in the development of HTN prevention strategies and initiatives.

Relationship between stressful life events and sleep quality: The mediating and moderating role of psychological suzhi

ObjectiveThe present study investigated the relationship between stressful life events and sleep quality. Further, it explored the mediating and moderating role of psychological suzhi in the relationship between stressful life events and sleep quality. MethodThe Adolescent Self-rating Life Events Checklist (ASLEC), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Concise Scale of Psychological Suzhi for College Students (Health Edition) were used to collect data from a sample of 1212 college students. SPSS 20.0 and SPSS macro Process, specially developed for assessing complex models including mediators and moderators, analyzed the data. ResultsHigh scores for stressful life events were related to worse sleep quality, and high scores on psychological suzhi were closely related with better sleep quality. Psychological suzhi mediated and moderated the relationship between stressful life events and sleep quality. ConclusionsThe results demonstrate that stressful life events can directly affect the sleep quality of college students and can indirectly affect sleep quality through affecting psychological suzhi. Additionally, psychological suzhi can buffer the adverse effects of stressful life events on sleep quality. This finding supports the hypothesis that psychological suzhi can act as a pressure buffer. The results enrich the research on the function mechanism of psychological suzhi and could inform future interventions for sleep disorders.

Effects of stressful life-events on DNA methylation in panic disorder and major depressive disorder

BackgroundPanic disorder (PD) is characterized by recurrent panic attacks and higher affection of women as compared to men. The lifetime prevalence of PD is about 2–3% in the general population leading to tremendous distress and disability. Etiologically, genetic and environmental factors, such as stress, contribute to the onset and relapse of PD. In the present study, we investigated epigenome-wide DNA methylation (DNAm) in respond to a cumulative, stress-weighted life events score (wLE) in patients with PD and its boundary to major depressive disorder (MDD), frequently co-occurring with symptoms of PD.MethodsDNAm was assessed by the Illumina HumanMethylation450 BeadChip. In a meta-analytic approach, epigenome-wide DNAm changes in association with wLE were first analyzed in two PD cohorts (with a total sample size of 183 PD patients and 85 healthy controls) and lastly in 102 patients with MDD to identify possible overlapping and opposing effects of wLE on DNAm. Additionally, analysis of differentially methylated regions (DMRs) was conducted to identify regional clusters of association.ResultsTwo CpG-sites presented with p-values below 1 × 10−05 in PD: cg09738429 (p = 6.40 × 10−06, located in an intergenic shore region in next proximity of PYROXD1) and cg03341655 (p = 8.14 × 10−06, located in the exonic region of GFOD2). The association of DNAm at cg03341655 and wLE could be replicated in the independent MDD case sample indicating a diagnosis independent effect. Genes mapping to the top hits were significantly upregulated in brain and top hits have been implicated in the metabolic system. Additionally, two significant DMRs were identified for PD only on chromosome 10 and 18, including CpG-sites which have been reported to be associated with anxiety and other psychiatric phenotypes.ConclusionThis first DNAm analysis in PD reveals first evidence of small but significant DNAm changes in PD in association with cumulative stress-weighted life events. Most of the top associated CpG-sites are located in genes implicated in metabolic processes supporting the hypothesis that environmental stress contributes to health damaging changes by affecting a broad spectrum of systems in the body.

Psychosocial Risk Factors and Cardiovascular Disease and Death in a Population-Based Cohort From 21 Low-, Middle-, and High-Income Countries

Stress may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Most studies on stress and CVD have been conducted in high-income Western countries, but whether stress is associated with CVD in other settings has been less well studied. To investigate the association of a composite measure of psychosocial stress and the development of CVD events and mortality in a large prospective study involving populations from 21 high-, middle-, and low-income countries across 5 continents. This population-based cohort study used data from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology study, collected between January 2003 and March 2021. Participants included individuals aged 35 to 70 years living in 21 low-, middle-, and high-income countries. Data were analyzed from April 8 to June 15, 2021. All participants were assessed on a composite measure of psychosocial stress assessed at study entry using brief questionnaires concerning stress at work and home, major life events, and financial stress. The outcomes of interest were stroke, major coronary heart disease (CHD), CVD, and all-cause mortality. A total of 118 706 participants (mean [SD] age 50.4 [9.6] years; 69 842 [58.8%] women and 48 864 [41.2%] men) without prior CVD and with complete baseline and follow-up data were included. Of these, 8699 participants (7.3%) reported high stress, 21 797 participants (18.4%) reported moderate stress, 34 958 participants (29.4%) reported low stress, and 53 252 participants (44.8%) reported no stress. High stress, compared with no stress, was more likely with younger age (mean [SD] age, 48.9 [8.9] years vs 51.1 [9.8] years), abdominal obesity (2981 participants [34.3%] vs 10 599 participants [19.9%]), current smoking (2319 participants [26.7%] vs 10 477 participants [19.7%]) and former smoking (1571 participants [18.1%] vs 3978 participants [7.5%]), alcohol use (4222 participants [48.5%] vs 13 222 participants [24.8%]), and family history of CVD (5435 participants [62.5%] vs 20 255 participants [38.0%]). During a median (IQR) follow-up of 10.2 (8.6-11.9) years, a total of 7248 deaths occurred. During the course of follow-up, there were 5934 CVD events, 4107 CHD events, and 2880 stroke events. Compared with no stress and after adjustment for age, sex, education, marital status, location, abdominal obesity, hypertension, smoking, diabetes, and family history of CVD, as the level of stress increased, there were increases in risk of death (low stress: hazard ratio [HR], 1.09 [95% CI, 1.03-1.16]; high stress: 1.17 [95% CI, 1.06-1.29]) and CHD (low stress: HR, 1.09 [95% CI, 1.01-1.18]; high stress: HR, 1.24 [95% CI, 1.08-1.42]). High stress, but not low or moderate stress, was associated with CVD (HR, 1.22 [95% CI, 1.08-1.37]) and stroke (HR, 1.30 [95% CI, 1.09-1.56]) after adjustment. This cohort study found that higher psychosocial stress, measured as a composite score of self-perceived stress, life events, and financial stress, was significantly associated with mortality as well as with CVD, CHD, and stroke events.

Dissociative Experiences and Stressful Life Events in Dissociative Disorders - A Cross Sectional Study

Background: Unconscious defenses and dissociative experiences have always been related to stressful life events. A stressful life event has a role to play both in normative and pathological dissociation. These events can be desirable and undesirable and both acute and chronic events can lead to dissociative phenomena Aims: To assess the dissociative experiences and type of stressful life events and also to correlate the events with dissociative disorders. Methodology: A detailed history was obtained along with the application of Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) and Presumptive Stressful Life Event Scale (PSLES) to know the type of dissociative experiences and the type of stressors. Their correlation was studied using SPSS-20 software. The scores of dissociative experiences and stressful life events were also calculated to find any relation between the scores and the type of dissociative presentation. Results: The majority of people diagnosed with dissociative disorders were females, although there is no gender difference in the DES scores. The mean age of presentation is 25.21±9.12 years. We found out that any subtype of patients can have any score on DES scale. The PSLES scores did not determine the type of dissociative presentation (subtype). Conclusion: Dissociative experiences are related to stressful events in last year, and it acts as a precipitating factor for people with poor coping mechanisms. The scores do not predict the subtype of dissociation.

Resilience of adolescents living with HIV in the Cape Metropole of the Western Cape

ABSTRACT Resilience shapes the experiences of adolescents living with HIV (ALWH), enabling them to come to terms with their diagnosis, have hope for the future and maintain meaningful relationships. Yet, little is known about contextual factors associated with resilience resources in South Africa. We aimed to describe individual, relational and community resilience resources, and identify contextual factors associated with resilience. We recruited 385 adolescents, aged 13–18, over a period of 5 months from 11 different public health HIV clinics. The Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM-12) was used to measure resilience resources. Data on demographic variables, psychological attributes, and environmental factors such as HIV-related stigma and stressful life events were collected. ALWH lacked resilience in some aspects of the individual, relational and community domains. For every one-unit increase in the HIV-related stigma and stressful life events scores, resilience decreased by 0.29 (p = 0.01) and 0.37 (p = 0.04) units, respectively. Higher levels of resilience were associated with being virally suppressed (Mann–Whitney U, p = 0.028) although this association was no longer present in the regression model. Efforts to improve resilience amongst ALWH should be focused on fostering individual coping skills, interconnectedness, and positive relationships, to mitigate adverse environmental factors.