Urinary Cortisol Levels, Cellular Immunocompetency, and... : Psychosomatic Medicine (original) (raw)

Original Articles: PDF Only

Urinary Cortisol Levels, Cellular Immunocompetency, and Loneliness in Psychiatric Inpatients

Kiecolt-Glaser, Janice K. PhD; Ricker, Denise BS; George, Jack MD; Messick, George BA; Speicher, Carl E. MD; Garner, Warren MD; Glaser, Ronald PhD

From the Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus Ohio, Departments of Psychiatry, Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Medicine, Surgery, Pathology and the Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Address requests for reprints to Janice K. Kiecolt-Glaser, Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry, The Ohio State University, College of Medicine, 473 West 12th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210.

Received for publication January 3, 1983; revision received February 24, 1983

Abstract

This study examined the associations among loneliness, stressful life events, urinary cortisol levels, and immunocompetency. Blood and urine were obtained from 33 psychiatric inpatients on the day after admission, at which time the patients completed the UCLA Loneliness Scale, the Psychiatric Epidemiology Research Interview Life Events Scale (PERI), and the MMPI. Patients who scored above the median on loneliness had significantly higher urinary cortisol levels. The high loneliness group also had significantly lower levels of natural killer cell activity, as well as a poorer T-lymphocyte response to phytohemagglutinin. The high loneliness subjects described themselves as more distressed than the low loneliness group on the MMPI. There were no consistent significant effects on either the immunologic measures or the MMPI associated with the PERI.