Stress and allergic symptoms in preparatory school students

Abstract

Many reports suggest stress is related to allergic diseases. We studied the relationship between stress and allergic symptoms in 802 preparatory school students. For the degree of stress, we used Ichige's stress sign questionnaire of 15 physical and 10 mental questions. No good correlation was seen between scores of stress sign and prevalence of allergic diseases. A good correlation was seen, however, between scores of stress sign and allergic symptoms. Students with high stress sign scores reported allergic symptoms such as rhinorrhea, nasal blockage, cough, stridor, and skin itching. From these results, we concluded that some stress may be an important factor inducing and/or worsening allergic symptoms. © 2002, Society of Oto-rhino-laryngology Tokyo. All rights reserved.