General health-related questionnaires on quality of life do not satisfactorily distinguish between healthy and sick people. One of the reasons cited for this lack is too much mental influence. This is why we developed a questionnaire on endogenous regulation (eR) that reflects the regulatory state of various vegetative functions.
The current study examines whether the short version eR questionnaire is able to distinguish between healthy people and internal medicine patients.
408 participants were included in the study (284 females, 124 males). Among these were patients with colorectal cancer (n = 49), breast cancer (n = 95), diabetes mellitus (type 1: n = 20, type 2: n = 40), coronary disease (n = 39), rheumatoid illnesses (n = 28) and multimorbid patients (n = 22) as well as a healthy control group (n = 115). In addition to the eR questionnaire the study also used the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the short questionnaire on self-regulation and questions on the vegetative status.
The healthy control group showed the highest eR, with an estimated average of M = 29.8. Patients with breast cancer, diabetes mellitus type 2, coronary disease and rheumatoid illnesses reveal a significantly lowered eR. Multimorbid patients show the lowest eR. Patients with cancer of the colon and diabetes type 1 were measured at M = 27.9 and M = 27.3 respectively and showed no significantly lowered estimated average compared to the control group. A high eR significantly correlates (p < 0.002) with the following parameters: low levels of anxiety (r = 49) and depression (r = 0.36), high self-regulation (r = 0.34), morning type (r = 0.40), less congestive perspiration (r = 0.38), less shivering (r = 0.23), dysmenorrhoea (r = 0.38) and allergies (r = 0.17).
Healthy people show the highest, multimorbid patients the lowest eR. Consistent relations to health, illness, heat regulation and personality presence have been shown. Further studies to clarify clinical relevance are necessary.