ARE WOMEN LESS WILLING TO CHANGE? THE INFLUENCE OF STRESS, ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION IN GASTROINTESTINAL SYMPTOMS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22551/Abstract
The nutritional profile of an individual constitutes one of the main regulators of gastrointestinal physiology and psychological well-being. This study aimed to identify the presence of gastrointestinal symptoms in medical students, health-related behaviors, and their relationship with the presence of stress, anxiety, and depression. Materials and methods: a total of 152 students from all years of study were included in the study. The respondents had to fill in an online questionnaire. Sociodemographic and medical related data as well as information about diet, nutritional status, quality of life and health-related behaviors were gathered. Psychological status was assessed using the DASS-21. Eating habits were evaluated using the Rapid Eating Assessment for Participants, while gastrointestinal symptom severity and impact on daily life were measured using the Visual Analogue Scale for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (VAS-IBS). Statistical analyses were performed using IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Statistics for Windows, version 24 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Results: The mean age of participants was 21.28 ± 1.93 years (range: 18-25). More than half stated that they noticed changes in digestion when experiencing fatigue or poor sleep, with frequent changes observed in 27.6% of participants (N = 42). Most participants showed normal levels of stress (88.2%), depression (75%), or anxiety (74.3%). The results on the Food Sufficiency subscale revealed that most participants (71.71%, N = 109) did not eat enough, and did not have an adequate intake of daily meals, proteins, and calcium-rich foods. Additionally, the results of the Healthy Eating subscale showed that most participants (93.4%, N = 142) had insufficient consumption of healthy foods. In contrast, the results on the Low Nutrient Density Foods subscale showed that most participants (88.81%, N = 135) reported limited consumption of foods with low nutritional density, and therefore a more favorable eating behavior. Women demonstrated significantly lower results in terms of willingness to change (M = 1.71 ± 0.68) compared to men (M = 2.00 ± 0.75). Conclusions: The data obtained indicated that stress is the main predictor of the severity of gastrointestinal symptoms, while food sufficiency exerted a protective effect. A more adequate diet was associated with reduced symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. These results show the importance of psychological factors and the quality of food in the quality of life of the young population.
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