Prevalence of perceived stress and associations to symptoms of exhaustion, depression and anxiety in a working age population seeking primary care - an observational study

Table 1 Characteristics of participating primary care patients reporting different stress levels, ¹ and of the total population

Study variable	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total
	n = 242		n = 153		n = 192		n = 587
	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
Gender
Women	140	58	99	65	138	72	377	64
Men	102	42	54	35	54	28	210	36
Age
18-24 years	26	11	20	13	25	13	71	12
25-39 years	80	33	51	33	70	36	201	34
40-65 years	136	56	82	54	97	51	315	54
Marital status
Married/cohabiting	179	74	103	67	110	58	392	67
Single	60	25	47	31	79	41	186	32
Living with parents	2	1	3	2	2	1	7	1
Employment
Employed	179	74	107	70	121	63	407	69
Student	21	9	17	11	25	13	63	11
Unemployed	6	2	6	4	17	9	29	5
Other²	36	15	23	15	29	15	88	15

¹Levels of stress were measured using the following question from the QPS Nordic instrument: “Stress means a situation in which a person feels tense, restless, nervous or anxious or is unable to sleep at night because his/her mind is constantly troubled. Do you feel this kind of stress these days?” “Not at all” and “only a little = level 1, “to some extent” = level 2, “rather much” and “very much” = level 3.
²On parental leave, disability pension, sick leave, early retirement or being self-employed.

ISSN: 2731-4553