| 1. |
- Gerber, M., et al.
(författare)
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Objectively assessed physical activity is associated with increased hair cortisol content in young adults
- 2013
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Ingår i: Stress-the International Journal on the Biology of Stress. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1025-3890. ; 16:6, s. 593-599
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Assessing long-term cortisol secretion presents difficulties when cortisol measurement is carried out by saliva, plasma and urine analyses. Hair cortisol has gained increased interest as an alternative biological marker. So far, one study has been published studying hair cortisol in endurance athletes, showing higher levels compared to controls. Using accelerometer data in the present study, we cross-sectionally explored the relationship between moderate physical activity (MPA) and vigorous physical activity (VPA) levels and hair cortisol concentrations after taking into account age, gender, and perceived stress. Hair specimens were collected from 46 university students (20 males, 26 females, M-age +/- SD = 21.2 +/- 1.87 years). Participants provided information about their socio-demographic background and levels of perceived stress. Accelerometer data were collected to assess physical activity. Cortisol concentrations were measured in the first 3-cm hair segment nearest to the scalp. MPA was not correlated with hair cortisol content (r = -0.08). A significant correlation was found between VPA and hair cortisol (r = 0.34, p < 0.05). A regression analysis revealed that participants with higher VPA had elevated hair cortisol concentrations even after taking into account age, gender and perceived stress (beta = 0.33, p < 0.05, Delta R-2 = 0.106). This is the first study showing that objectively assessed VPA is associated with increased hair cortisol levels in young adults. As VPA can be regarded as a physical stressor, it seems imperative that researchers consider participants' levels of VPA if they examine the relationship between stress exposure, hair cortisol and health.
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| 2. |
- Hellgren, Charlotte, et al.
(författare)
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Sympathetic reactivity in late pregnancy is related to labour onset in women
- 2011
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Ingår i: Stress. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1025-3890 .- 1607-8888. ; 14:6, s. 627-633
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Stress regulation during pregnancy is considered to be connected to the timing of labour initiation. Although increasing knowledge is emerging on the regulation of parturition, there is currently no way to predict the start of spontaneous labour in women. The main aim of this study was to assess pain threshold and the sympathetic nervous system response to cold pain in relation to the onset of labour in healthy pregnant women. Ninety-three pregnant women were recruited and assessed for skin conductance (SC) activity during a cold pressor test in gestational week 38. Pain threshold and cold endurance were also measured and the results were compared with data obtained from hospital records. Seventy-four women had a spontaneous labour onset and a valid SC measurement. SC activity during the cold pressor test decreased significantly with the number of days left to spontaneous parturition. This may indicate a gradual decrease in sympathetic autonomic nervous system reactivity even during the last weeks of pregnancy. Measuring SC activity during mild stress provocation is a rapid and non-invasive means to study variation in sympathetic reactivity during pregnancy, and may be useful in research on stress regulation in pregnancy and its relation to labour initiation.
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| 3. |
- Hintsanen, M, et al.
(författare)
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A prospective cohort study of deficient maternal nurturing attitudes predicting adulthood work stress independent of adulthood hostility and depressive symptoms
- 2010
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Ingår i: Stress. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1025-3890 .- 1607-8888. ; 13:5, s. 425-34
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Stressful childhood environments arising from deficient nurturing attitudes are hypothesized to contribute to later stress vulnerability. We examined whether deficient nurturing attitudes predict adulthood work stress. Participants were 443 women and 380 men from the prospective Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. Work stress was assessed as job strain and effort-reward imbalance in 2001 when the participants were from 24 to 39 years old. Deficient maternal nurturance (intolerance and low emotional warmth) was assessed based on mothers' reports when the participants were at the age of 3-18 years and again at the age of 6-21 years. Linear regressions showed that deficient emotional warmth in childhood predicted lower adulthood job control and higher job strain. These associations were not explained by age, gender, socioeconomic circumstances, maternal mental problems or participant hostility, and depressive symptoms. Deficient nurturing attitudes in childhood might affect sensitivity to work stress and selection into stressful work conditions in adulthood. More attention should be paid to pre-employment factors in work stress research.
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| 4. |
- Jonsdottir, Ingibjörg H, 1966, et al.
(författare)
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Cognitive impairment in patients with stress-related exhaustion
- 2013
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Ingår i: Stress-the International Journal on the Biology of Stress. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1025-3890 .- 1607-8888. ; 16:2, s. 181-190
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Patients who seek medical care for stress-related mental health problems frequently report cognitive impairments as the most pronounced symptom. The purpose of the present study was to compare cognitive function in patients with stress-related exhaustion with that in healthy controls, using a comprehensive battery of cognitive tests. We also explored whether neuropsychological findings were related to severity of illness measured using the Shirom–Melamed burnout questionnaire and hospital anxiety and depression scale. Thirty-three patients (15 males) and 37 healthy controls (11 males), mean age 46 years [standard deviation (SD) 3.9] and 47 years (SD 4.3), respectively, were included in the final analysis. Five cognitive domains were assessed: (1) speed, attention and working memory, (2) learning and episodic memory, (3) executive functions, (4) visuospatial functions and (5) language. The most pronounced difference between patients and controls was seen on executive function, when tested with a multidimensional test, including aspects of speed, control and working memory. The patients also performed poorer on Digit span, measuring attention span and working memory as well as on learning and episodic memory, when measured as delayed recall and the difference between immediate and delayed recall. Delayed recall was the only test that was significantly related to severity of burnout symptoms among the patients. This could reflect poor cognitive sustainability in the patients with the highest burnout scores, as this particular test was the last one performed during the test session. This study clearly shows that cognitive impairment should be considered when evaluating and treating patients who seek medical care for stress-related exhaustion.
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| 5. |
- Sandström, Agneta, et al.
(författare)
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Brain activation patterns in major depressive disorder and work stress-related long-term sick leave among swedish females
- 2012
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Ingår i: Stress. - London : Informa Healthcare. - 1025-3890 .- 1607-8888. ; 15:5, s. 503-513
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Deficits in executive and working-memory functioning associated with frontal lobe dysfunction are prominent in depression and work-related long-term sick leave (LTSL). This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate potential differences in brain activation patterns in these conditions. In addition, the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis was examined and compared between groups. Since there is a clear overrepresentation of women in these diagnostic groups, and to ensure a more homogenous sample population, only women were included. To examine the neural correlates of relevant cognitive processes in patients on sick-leave > 90 days due to work-related LTSL, recently diagnosed patients with major depression (DSM-IV criteria, untreated), and healthy controls (n=10 each group), a 2-back working memory task and a visual long-term memory task were administered during fMRI scanning. HPA-axis functioning was investigated using a diurnal curve of saliva cortisol and a dexamethasone suppression test. Task performance was comparable among the three groups. Multivariate image analysis revealed that both memory tasks engaged a similar brain network in all three groups, including the prefrontal and parietal cortex. During the 2-back task, LTSL patients had significant frontal hypoactivation compared to controls and patients with depression. Saliva cortisol measurements showed a flattening of the diurnal rythmicity in LTSL patients compared to patients with depression and healthy contols. Taken together, these findings indicate that work stress-related LTSL and major depression are dissociable in terms of frontal activation and diurnal cortisol rhythmicity.
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| 6. |
- Sjörs, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Increased insulin secretion and decreased glucose concentrations, but not allostatic load, are associated with stress-related exhaustion in a clinical patient population
- 2013
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Ingår i: Stress-the International Journal on the Biology of Stress. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1025-3890 .- 1607-8888. ; 16:1, s. 24-33
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Allostatic load (AL) has been shown to be a useful marker of physiological strain during chronic stress and burnout in non-clinical working populations. The usability of the AL index for a clinical population with severe stress-related exhaustion was tested in this study. Thirteen biomarkers assembled as an AL index were analysed using blood samples from 90 patients with stress-related exhaustion (43 men and 47 women, age 31-61 years) and 90 healthy controls (46 men and 44 women, age 25-56 years). The AL scores did not differ between patients and controls. For men, some indication of higher cardiovascular risk was seen in the patient group: male patients had higher body mass index and waist-hip ratio and a poorer blood lipid status than male controls. We found lower plasma glucose concentrations in both female and male patients than those in controls. The male patients also showed increased fasting serum insulin concentrations. Further analysis using homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance and beta-cell function showed indications of insulin resistance in the patient group, particularly in the males, and an increased insulin secretion in both male and female patients. In conclusion, AL index does not seem to capture plausible physiological strain in patients diagnosed with stress-related exhaustion. The finding of lower plasma glucose concentrations, probably due to higher insulin secretion, in patients with severe stress-related exhaustion, needs to be further investigated, including mechanisms and the clinical relevance.
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| 7. |
- Österberg, Kai, et al.
(författare)
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A follow-up of cognitive performance and diurnal salivary cortisol changes in former burnout patients.
- 2012
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Ingår i: Stress. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1607-8888 .- 1025-3890. ; 15:6, s. 589-600
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of the study was to determine whether recovery from burnout is associated with improved cognitive functioning, and whether such improvement is associated with changes in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity and return to work. Forty-five former burnout patients were followed up after 1.5 years with a neuropsychological examination, diurnal salivary cortisol measurements, dexamethasone suppression test (DST), and self-ratings of cognitive problems. At follow-up, improved cognitive performance was observed on several tests of short-term memory and attention. Self-rated cognitive problems decreased considerably, but this decrease was unrelated to the improvement on neuropsychological tests. Diurnal salivary cortisol concentrations at awakening, 30 min after awakening, and in the evening, did not change from baseline to follow-up, nor did the cortisol awakening response. However, slightly, but significantly, stronger suppression of cortisol in response to the DST was observed at follow-up. Improvements in subjective or objective cognitive functioning and changes in diurnal cortisol concentration were unrelated to the extent of work resumption. However, a decreased DST response at follow-up was partially related to improved cognitive performance and work resumption. The clinical implications are that burnout seems to be associated with slight and significantly reversible cognitive impairment, and that self-rated cognitive change during recovery poorly reflects objective cognitive change.
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| 8. |
- Österberg, Kai, et al.
(författare)
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Neuropsychological sequelae of work-stress-related exhaustion
- 2013
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Ingår i: Stress. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1025-3890 .- 1607-8888. ; 17:1, s. 59-69
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim was to assess long-term cognitive performance after substantial recovery from work-stress-related exhaustion, in relation to subjective cognitive complaints and return to active work. In total, 54 patients previously diagnosed with work-stress-related exhaustion participated in a neuropsychological examination similar to 2 years after initial sick leave. Most participants were substantially recovered at follow-up, with only 13% still meeting the criteria for exhaustion disorder suggested by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare. When participants' scores on 14 neuropsychological tests were compared to a matched group of 50 controls, the former patient group showed lower performance mainly on attention tests of the reaction time type, but also slightly lower scores on visuo-spatial constructional ability. However, the former patient group performed better than controls on two memory tests and, in part, on a test of simultaneous capacity. Self-ratings of everyday cognitive problems remained significantly higher in the former patient group than among controls, but the extent of self-rated cognitive problems was generally unrelated to performance on the neuropsychological tests. No relationship between performance on these tests and the extent of work resumption was observed. In summary, persons with previous work-stress-related exhaustion showed persistent signs of a minor attention deficit, despite considerable general recovery and return to work.
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