Association of suboptimal health status with psychosocial stress, plasma cortisol and mRNA expression of glucocorticoid receptor α/β in lymphocyte

Figures & data

Table 1. Association between psychosocial stress and SHS.

	High SHS group	Low SHS group
	Mean ± SD	Mean ± S.D.	F (1,376)^a	p Value
Age	42.04 ± 4.12	42.65 ± 4.86	1.324^b	0.186
Gender (N of male/female)	101/92	87/102	1.561^c	0.218
Demands at work	49.90 ± 19.84	30.81 ± 17.69	83.51	<0.001
Work organization and content	45.73 ± 18.11	54.37 ± 19.38	13.85	<0.001
Interpersonal relations and leadership	54.28 ± 17.98	69.07 ± 19.63	51.08	<0.001
Insecurity at work	35.85 ± 26.80	19.88 ± 23.86	48.85	<0.001
Job satisfaction	59.94 ± 18.88	67.91 ± 17.01	16.37	<0.001

^aAdjusted for sex, age and company.

^bt₍₃₈₀₎ value.

^c value.

Table 2. Pearson correlation (r₍₃₈₁₎) matrix of psychosocial stress and SHS.

Scales	1	2	3	4	5	6
1. SHS	1.00
2. Demands at work	0.54^a	1.00
3. Work organization and  content	−0.24^a	−0.08	1.00
4. Interpersonal relations  and leadership	−0.47^a	−0.27^a	0.51^a	1.00
5. Insecurity at work	0.43^a	0.26^a	0.03	−0.14^b	1.00
6. Job satisfaction	−0.30^a	−0.41^a	0.31^a	0.37^a	−0.15^b	1.00

^ap < 0.01.

^bp < 0.05.

Table 3. Effect of psychosocial stress on SHS – results of the multivariate linear regression.

Variables	Coefficients	Standardized coefficients	t(373)	p Value
Age	0.104	0.046	0.910	0.364
Gender	4.518	1.894	1.898	0.059
Company	0.565	0.016	0.266	0.792
Demands at work	0.232	0.359	6.236	<0.001
Work organization and  content	−0.044	−0.057	−0.939	0.349
Interpersonal relations  and leadership	−0.217	−0.299	−4.939	<0.001
Insecurity at work	0.174	0.321	6.337	<0.001
Job satisfaction	0.037	0.048	0.807	0.421

Table 4. Association between SHS and plasma cortisol, mRNA of GRα and GRβ in PBMC.

	High SHS group (n = 193)	Low SHS group (n = 189)	F (1, 375)^a	p Value
Plasma cortisol^b (ng/ml)	178.58 ± 18.25	167.77 ± 12.25	37.49	<0.001
	175.54 (163.42–182.48)	167.51 (157.02–175.98)
mRNA GRα^b	86.79 ± 44.79	100.52 ± 58.71	4.941^c	0.027
	81.57 (53.36–112.41)	92.41 (53.81–128.00)
mRNA GRβ^b	73.77 ± 56.35	73.22 ± 52.39	0.293^c	0.589
	52.10 (28.84–120.82)	55.14 (31.93–121.66)
GRβ/GRα ratio^b	0.93 ± 0.64	0.78 ± 0.47	5.370	0.021
	0.81 (0.49–1.14)	0.61 (0.46–1.11)

^aAdjusted for sex, age, company and time interval (between waking and sampling).

^bData are represented as means ± SD and median (25–75 percentiles).

^cSkewed distributed and analyzed by log-transformed values.