title: Psychological stress measure in type 2 diabetes.
abstract: Psychological stress has been implicated as a cause of several psychosomatic disorders, but also as a factor that can unfavourably influence many diseases including diabetes mellitus. Measure of psychological stress in diabetes was performed by Psychological Stress Measure (PSM), a validated instrument, designed using 49 items drawn from descriptors generated by focus groups on stress. Clinical and psychological framework was assessed in a cohort of 100 type 2 diabetic patients (30 m, 70 f), aged 66.99 +/- 13.68 years considering disease grade, complications and level of instruction. Three other questionnaires were administered concurrently to all patients: Sickness Impact Profile (SIP), Functional Living Index (FLI) and SF-36 QOL. ANOVA statistical testing and Spearman correlation matrix were used also vs socio-cultural and clinical profile. Gender, obesity, diet compliance, smoking do not affect PSM response. Hypertensive patients and those with family history of diabetes show lower PSM scores, according to a sort of moderator effect on stress of concurrent and/or previous experience with chronic disease. Neuromuscular ailments are more prevalent in women; men vs women experience severe limitations of their working capacities and relational possibilities, with severe discomfort. In the whole, higher scores of PSM (greater stress p < 0.01) and lower scores of FLI (fair well-being perception; p < 0.01) are reciprocally related inside any school instruction level. Despite the great reciprocal association of the PSM vs FLI and SIP, no significant correlation is found between PSM vs SF-36 QOL. Socio-cultural elements interfere, and particularly instruction level quantified as school grades achieved, with the manner of living their disease. Interventions on psychological distress of type 2 diabetes mellitus patients is warranted, specially in the groups with lower levels of instruction which may need an attentive strategy for achieving a satisfactory coping with this disease.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Medicina Interna e Terapia Medica, Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia, University of Catania, Italy. guglielmotrovato@unict.it
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Trovato
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Catalano
authors.forename: G F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Martines
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Spadaro
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Di Corrado
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Crispi
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Garufi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Di Nuovo
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D004493:Education; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011788:Quality of Life; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires