Avaliação de estresse, morbidade psiquiatrica e marcadores inflamatorios em individuos de baixo status socioeconomico / Stress, psychiatric morbidity and inflammatory markers in low socioeconomic status individuals

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2007

RESUMO

The association between low socioeconomic status (SES) and high psychiatric morbidity prevalence has been established throughout studies performed in rich countries rather than developing countries where the social differences are huge. The aim of this work was to investigate the association between the perceived stress level, psychiatric morbidity prevalence, interleukin-6 (IL-6), α- tumoral necrose factor (α TNF) and reactive C protein (PCR) serum levels, as well as salivary cortisol concentration in individuals of low SES. Sixty-five adult male classified as belonging to low SES were submitted to a psychometric analysis by the Revised Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS-R), the Perceived Stress Questionnaire (QSP) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD). The subjects also provided blood and saliva samples for the analysis of the biological markers of stress and inflammation. The results showed association between perceived stress level and prevalence of psychiatric morbidity, with both indicators showing high scores. The salivary cortisol concentration and the awakening cortisol response (CAR) were high and the CAR showed a negative correlation to per capita income. The inflammatory markers levels were higher compared to data for healthy subjects in the literature. However, there was no association between inflammatory markers, perceived stress and psychiatric morbidity prevalence. We concluded that chronic exposure to psychosocial stressors, present in low SES environmental, might explain the higher perceived stress level and psychiatric morbidity prevalence found in this work. The chronic psychosocial stress, through the high cortisol levels, might lead to psychiatric morbidity vulnerability. Inasmuch, the higher inflammatory markers levels indicate an inflammatory state, which probably contribute to psychiatric morbidity prevalence. Therefore, considering the socioeconomic features of the Brazilian population, there is a great percentage of people exposed to high risk of mental health diseases. This picture might have a negative impact on public health and imposes the need for public actions of prevention and of intervention specifically directed toward this socioeconomic class.

ASSUNTO(S)

status social mental depression hydrocortisone cortisol marcadores inflamatorios stress (fisiologia) socioeconomic status physiological stress inflammatory markers depressão mental

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