Self-rated recovery from work stress and allostatic load in women.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to investigate the relationships between self-rated recovery from work stress and biologic dysregulation in terms of allostatic load (AL) and individual biomarkers, respectively, in healthy women within the public health care sector.


METHODS
Two hundred forty-one women completed self-ratings of recovery and took part in a standardized medical examination, which provided individual biomarkers that were used to compute AL.


RESULTS
Cluster analysis of self-rated recovery resulted in three cluster profiles, including (1) recovered women (n=108), (2) nonrecovered women (n=51), and (3) fatigued women (n=82). Sequential logistic regression analysis showed that the fatigued profile had an increased risk for high AL. In contrast, there was no significant difference in individual biomarkers between recovery profiles.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings establish an association between biologic processes and self-rated recovery from work stress, thus supporting the hypothesis that insufficient recovery may result in high AL.
von Thiele
Ulrica
U
Department of Psychology, Center for Health Equity Studies, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden. uvt@psychology.su.se
Lindfors
Petra
P
Lundberg
Ulf
U
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008603:Mental Health; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000523:psychology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016526:Workload