Abstract

To improve wellness and quality of life by recognizing the health effects of stress, the author estimated the relationships between stress, subjective symptoms and clinical diagnosis through a questionnaire and a battery of specified laboratory tests - electrocardiography, blood pressure, cholesterol, aspartate aminotransferase(AST), alanine aminotransferase(ALT), gamma glutamyl transferase(gamma-GTP), fasting blood sugar, gastro-endoscopy or UGI, abdominal sonography, etc. The data was gathered from 337 clients who were undergoing multiphasic screening program at a University Hospital from January to March 1998. The mean age of subjects was 46.5+/-11.2 years and the mean of body mass index was 24.0+/-3.7kg/m2. The mean level of stress was 18.5+/-6.0 expressed as the score out of 40. By general characteristics and life style among male, mean level of stress was significantly higher in case of lower socioeconomic status, habitual drug use, longer daily working time(>10 hours), no regular exercise, drinkers, irregular meal, skipping breakfast(p<0.05). In case of female, that was significantly higher in case of lower education, lower socioeconomic status, longer daily working time(>10 hours), no regular exercise, drinkers, smokers, irregular meal, skipping breakfast(p<0.05). Significant correlations were observed between stress and subjective symptoms in all kinds of organ system(p<0.01). Correlation coefficients of stress among male were relatively high with neuro-psychiatric symptom(gamma=0.476) and cardio-vascular symptom(gamma=0.361) in order, and correlation coefficients of stress among female was highest with neuro-psychiatric symptom(gamma=0.371). The prevalence of the diagnosis through the battery of laboratory tests was high in upper gastrointestinal disorders and hypercholesterolemia in order in both sex group. Among male the mean score of stress was significantly high in ulcerative peptic disorder of upper gastrointestine and hepatopathy in order (p<0.05) . Among female that was significantly high in diabetes mellitus. In summary, it is likely that there are associations between stress, subjective symptoms and clinical diagnosis. To promote wellness and quality of life through, therefore, it would be of value that periodic stress evaluation program and stress management including appropriate control of smoking and drinking, regular exercise and meal.

• Keywords: stresssubjective symptomslife style