Perceived stress in women with recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis.
OBJECTIVE
Recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis (RVVC) has become very common. The aim of this study was to evaluate if women with RVVC perceive more signs of chronic stress than healthy control subjects.


METHODS
Thirty-three women with RVVC and 28 healthy control subjects completed a questionnaire about perceived stress at work and in private life, and a health questionnaire. A comparison of the results was performed with the one-way ANOVA test.


RESULTS
More women with RVVC than control subjects reported signs of burnout (p < 0.001), emotional symptoms of stress (p < 0.005), impaired balance between work and leisure time (p = 0.01), bodily symptoms of stress (p < 0.05), worrying factors at work (p < 0.05), and presented type D-personality (p < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this pilot study showed higher degree of perceived stress in women with RVVC compared with healthy controls. These results are in line with our earlier findings of blunted morning rise cortisol and lower mean levels of cortisol in women with RVVC compared with healthy controls.
Ehrström
Sophia
S
Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Danderyd Hospital, Karolinska Institutet, 182 88 Stockholm, Sweden. Sophia.ehrstrom@ds.se
Kornfeld
Dan
D
Rylander
Eva
E
D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000523:psychology; D002181:Candidiasis, Vulvovaginal / Q000523:psychology*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D012008:Recurrence; D012016:Reference Values; D012307:Risk Factors; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016526:Workload / Q000523:psychology
D006854:Hydrocortisone