Stress, Depression and Quality of Life on Gastro-esophageal Reflux Patients

Abstract

Introduction: Oesophageal reflux disease or GERD is a disease with a significant incidence that has been steadily
rising in recent decades. GERD affects directly or indirectly almost every day functions of a person such as digestion and breathing, creating a feeling of discomfort, heartburn, chest pains and sleep apnea. Purpose: of the
research was to investigate the degree of quality of life in people diagnosed with gastroesophageal reflux disease
(GERD) as well as the degree of anxiety and/or depression. Material and Method: In order to investigate the
degree of this influence, a synchronical study was performed on 104 people diagnosed with GERD. The survey
data collection tool included questions about the sample's individual characteristics and daily health habits, the
GERD reflux symptom questionnaire, the SF-12 quality-of-life questionnaire, Zung's stress and depression selfassessment scales, and Sleep quality index - (MOS-12). The descriptive analysis included the frequency distribution of the qualitative variables (absolute and relative% frequency) and estimates of the position and dispersion
parameters of the quantitative variables (mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum value). Possible
correlations were investigated by Inductive Analysis, which included Pearson correlation coefficient (r), t-test for
independent samples, and one-way ANOVA. Significance levels were bilateral and the acceptable level of statistical significance was set at 5% (p value <0.05). Results: The severity of relapse symptoms decreases as a person's
physical health level rises (r=–0.328 p<0.001) and increases with increasing stress levels (r=0.420 p<0.001) and
depression (r=0.513 p<0.001) and is likely to be responsible for poor sleep quality (r=–0.438 p <0.001). There is
a positive linear correlation between poor sleep quality and stress (r=0.727 p<0.001) and depression (r=0.654
p<0.05). Examination of the linear relationship between the degree of symptoms and all other mean scores showed
that only stress can be considered as a statistically significant factor in predicting the degree of symptoms. The
multiple regression model was examined with a dependent variable of the symptom index and independent
variables of the indicators of physical and mental health, depression, sleep quality and anxiety. Only stress has
been found to have a statistically significant linear correlation with the symptom index. This model is statistically significant (F=36.493, d.f.=1,102, p-value <0.001) but has low interpretability as the corrected coefficient of determination is equal to 0.256 explaining only 25.60% of the variability of the dependent variable. An increase of
two points in the stress index means an increase of one unit in the category of the symptom index or that only
after the frequent or daily occurrence of anxiety symptoms in a person, more severe symptoms of GERD will appear. Conclusions: The psychological state of a person and in particular stress burdens the state of health of the
person with GERD resulting in more severe symptoms.