Life events and neurocirculatory asthenia. A controlled study

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the occurrence of stres sful 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 astheni a 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 semistr uctured research interview covering 64 life events) was administered to pat ients and controls. Results: Patients with neurocirculatory asthenia reported significantly mor e stressful life events than the control group (P < 0.05) and had significa ntly more of the following: exits (P < 0.05), undesirable (P < 0.05) and un controlled (P < 0.01) events. More events that had an objective negative im pact (P < 0.091) and more independent events (P = 0.07) were also reported, Ratings of impact and independence were carried out by a blind rater who w as unaware whether the event had occurred in patients or controls. Conclusions: The results are suggestive of a strong relationship between st ressful life events and neurocirculatory asthenia, This is in agreement wit h a multifactorial model of pathogenesis in neurocirculatory asthenia and w ith current understanding of the extensive links of behavioral responses to stress with neurophysiological and biochemical processes.