Life stress and chronic yeast infections.

This study investigated the relationships of positive and negative life change to yeast infections in women having a gynecological examination at a university health center. Subjects completed the Life Experiences Survey and a questionnaire about experiences with yeast infections and received, as a routine part of their visitation of the gynecology service, a standard gynecological examination, including a laboratory test for yeast infections. Positive life change was unrelated to any of the variables regarding yeast infections and was only minimally correlated with negative life change. Negative life change, while not related to the presence of current yeast infections, was positively correlated with the reported number of yeast infections during the past year, concern about these infections, and a number of physician visits for yeast infections. Negative life change was also negatively correlated with grade point average. Neither antibiotics nor contraceptive pill use interacted with negative life change to influence experiences with yeast infections.