At Massachusetts General Hospital, patients whose blood pressure was in check just weeks ago now find it rocketing out of control. They blame the economy.

At Boston Medical Center, obese patients who had been shedding weight are packing on pounds again as they resort to cheaper, high-calorie food and abandon gym memberships. They blame the economy.

At a Framingham doctor's office, patients forgo screening tests such as colonoscopies because they don't want to spend scarce dollars on copayments. They blame the economy.

In hospital wards and medical clinics across Massachusetts, doctors see growing evidence that the ill economy is making patients sick, spawning headaches and churning stomachs, and even causing bouts of anxiety and depression among people who never before sought psychiatric help.

The chief of outpatient medicine at Boston Medical estimates that financial turmoil figures into at least half of all patient visits, and at one of the nation's premier psychiatric hospitals, McLean in Belmont, 31 percent more patients were admitted last month than in December 2007.

"I've been stunned by how pervasive the impact of the current economic downturn is on the health of my brood," said Dr. Stephen Hoffmann, whose medical practice in Framingham has nearly 3,000 patients.

The economic crisis is far too fresh for any government agency or professional organization to have quantified the health consequences. But during previous recessions, researchers linked spikes in unemployment in the United States and Europe to increases in deaths from heart disease, cancer, and psychiatric disorders.

In interviews this month with a dozen doctors, family physicians as well as specialists, nearly all said they had encountered patients suffering ailments tied to the financial collapse, with the damage wrought in sore arms, troubled minds, and neglected prescriptions.

At a Somerville clinic run by the Cambridge Health Alliance, the flagging economy, "touches us every day," said Dr. Laura Obbard. She sees it in the weary faces of her patients, such as Jorge Cardoza, a 52-year-old diabetic who lost his construction job in late October.

"That was like a knockout for me," Cardoza said.

While he was working, his blood sugar level, a key indicator of how well diabetics are faring, remained safely low. "Now," he said, "I see my sugar level is very high. That never happened before. That worries me a lot."

In part, that could be because he's not getting as much physical activity. His job was strenuous, and he used to exercise at a gym, until financial pressures forced him to cancel his membership. Research has shown that regular exercise can dramatically improve diabetes symptoms. And stress can make them worse.

During the past few months, Dr. Randall Zusman has noticed something disturbing in his practice at Mass. General, where he tends to adults with recalcitrant high blood pressure. About a dozen patients who had been doing well suddenly had elevated readings.