Life events and neurocirculatory asthenia. A controlled study.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess the occurrence of stressful life events in the year before the onset of neurocirculatory asthenia. DESIGN: Case-control retrospective study. SETTING: A university medical outpatient clinic. SUBJECTS: A consecutive series of 50 patients with neurocirculatory asthenia and a control group of 50 healthy subjects, matched for sociodemographic variables, were studied. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Paykel's Interview for Recent Life Events (a semistructured research interview covering 64 life events) was administered to patients and controls. RESULTS: Patients with neurocirculatory asthenia reported significantly more stressful life events than the control group (P < 0.05) and had significantly more of the following: exits (P < 0.05), undesirable (P < 0.05) and uncontrolled (P < 0.01) events. More events that had an objective negative impact (P < 0.001) and more independent events (P = 0.07) were also reported. Ratings of impact and independence were carried out by a blind rater who was unaware whether the event had occurred in patients or controls. CONCLUSIONS: The results are suggestive of a strong relationship between stressful life events and neurocirculatory asthenia. This is in agreement with a multifactorial model of pathogenesis in neurocirculatory asthenia and with current understanding of the extensive links of behavioral responses to stress with neurophysiological and biochemical processes.