Psychological Stress as a Trigger for Herpes Zoster: Might the Conventional Wisdom Be Wrong?

The causes for zoster remain largely unknown. Psychological stress is one commonly considered risk factor. We used self-controlled case series methods to look for increases in zoster following death or catastrophic health event occurring in a previously healthy spouse. We found no increase, although...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inClinical infectious diseases Vol. 60; no. 5; pp. 781 - 785
Main Authors Harpaz, Rafael, Leung, Jessica W., Brown, Cedric J., Zhou, Fang Jun
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Oxford University Press 01.03.2015
Subjects
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
BRIEF REPORT
Cohort Studies
Female
Herpes Zoster - etiology
Humans
Infectious diseases
Male
Mental health
Middle Aged
Risk factors
Spouses
Stress
Stress, Psychological - complications
Viral infections
self-controlled case series
stress
zoster
healthcare seeking
shingles
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Summary:The causes for zoster remain largely unknown. Psychological stress is one commonly considered risk factor. We used self-controlled case series methods to look for increases in zoster following death or catastrophic health event occurring in a previously healthy spouse. We found no increase, although this stressor led to increased mental health visits.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
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ISSN:1058-4838
1537-6591
DOI:10.1093/cid/ciu889