Influence of stressful life events on the onset of sarcoidosis.
OBJECTIVE
The onset of sarcoidosis may be triggered by any hereditary and/or environmental factor. Among these factors, psychosocial stress may play a critical role in the onset of sarcoidosis. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the influence of stressful life events on the onset of sarcoidosis.


METHODS
The social and/or life events experienced prior to diagnosis in 55 patients with sarcoidosis, were evaluated quantitatively using the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS), the most authoritative method to quantify the magnitude of the events requiring changes in lifestyle. In addition, personality with respect to stress-reactivity was simultaneously evaluated using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) alexithymia scale. Both the degree of stress, evaluated by SRRS, and stress-reactivity, evaluated by MMPI scale, of sarcoidosis patients were compared with those of 92 healthy controls.


RESULTS
The magnitude of stressful life events was significantly higher in patients with sarcoidosis compared with healthy controls. In addition, capacity for coping with stress was found to be inferior in sarcoidosis patients compared with that in the control groups.


CONCLUSIONS
These results indicated that psychosocial stress assessed on the basis of alexithymic characteristics of the self perception of stress may be partly implicated in the development of sarcoidosis.
Yamada
Yoshihito
Y
Department of Chest Medicine, Japan Railway Tokyo General Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
Tatsumi
Koichiro
K
Yamaguchi
Tetsuo
T
Tanabe
Nobuhiro
N
Takiguchi
Yuichi
Y
Kuriyama
Takayuki
T
Mikami
Riichiro
R
D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010556:Personality Tests; D012507:Sarcoidosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D012649:Self Concept; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*