Are abnormal gastrofiberscopic findings related to hostility with poor social support or to negative responses to stress?

Recent studies have highlighted physiological effects of emotional stress presumably leading to gastrointestinal disease. This study examined the effects of stress (hostility) and coping (social support and negative responses to stress) on asymptomatic gastric diseases. We investigated whether gastrofiberscopic findings were related to stress and coping in 269 volunteers without gastrointestinal complaints. These subjects were taking part in primary health care assessments. Analysis of variance found that volunteers with abnormal gastrofiberscopic findings (i.e., erosions and/or ulceration) demonstrated significantly higher hostility and lower social support scores than those without abnormal findings. Analysis of covariance found that abnormal gastrofiberscopic findings remained significantly related to hostility scores after controlling for hostility's correlations with social support and negative responses to stress. The results suggest that hostility, along with poor social support or negative responses to stress, is associated with asymptomatic gastric disease.