The effects of stress management on symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection, secretory immunoglobulin A, and mood in young adults (original) (raw)
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Psychological Stress, Cytokine Production, and Severity of Upper Respiratory Illness
Psychosomatic Medicine, 1999
Objective: The purpose of this study is to assess the role of psychological stress in the expression of illness among infected subjects and to test the plausibility of local proinflammatory cytokine production as a pathway linking stress to illness. Methods: After completing a measure of psychological stress, 55 subjects were experimentally infected with an influenza A virus. Subjects were monitored in quarantine daily for upper respiratory symptoms, mucus production, and nasal lavage levels of interleukin (IL)-6. Results: Higher psychological stress assessed before the viral challenge was associated with greater symptom scores, greater mucus weights, and higher IL-6 lavage concentrations in response to infection. The IL-6 response was temporally related to the two markers of illness severity, and mediation analyses indicated that these data were consistent with IL-6 acting as a major pathway through which stress was associated with increased symptoms of illness. However, this pattern of data is also consistent with increases in IL-6 occurring in response to tissue damage associated with illness symptoms. Conclusions: Psychological stress predicts a greater expression of illness and an increased production of IL-6 in response to an upper respiratory infection.
Psychological stress and susceptibility to upper respiratory infections
1995
Abstract The biologic plausibility of a link between psychological states and host resistance is discussed. Although there is substantial evidence for the association between psychological stress and both cellular and humoral immune response, these data do not necessarily suggest increased susceptibility to infectious agents among stressed persons.
Reactivity and Vulnerability to Stress-Associated Risk for Upper Respiratory Illness
2002
We tested the hypothesis that the greater a person's laboratory stress-elicited elevation in cortisol, the greater the life stress-related risk for upper respiratory infection (URI). We also tested the prediction that the greater the laboratory stress-elicited rise in natural killer cell (NK) cytotoxicity, the smaller the life stress-related URI risk. Finally, we explored whether sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and enumerative immune reactivities to laboratory stress moderate the relation between life stress and URI. Methods: At baseline, 115 healthy subjects were administered a negative stressful life events checklist and were tested to assess their SNS (blood pressure, heart rate, and catecholamines), HPA (cortisol), and immune (NK cell cytotoxicity and lymphocyte subsets) reactivities to laboratory speech tasks administered 2 weeks apart. Responses were averaged across the two laboratory assessments to create reactivity scores. After these assessments were completed, participants were followed weekly for 12 consecutive weeks. At each follow-up they completed a measure of perceived stress experienced over the last week. They were also instructed to contact the study coordinator if they had a cold or flu at any time during follow-up. A health care worker verified reported illnesses. Results: In a traditional prospective analysis, high cortisol reactors with high levels of life events had a greater incidence of verified URI than did high reactors with low levels of life events and low reactors irrespective of their life event scores. Using hierarchical linear modeling, CD8 ϩ number, Natural Killer (NK) cell number, and NK cell cytotoxicity, each interacted with weekly perceived stress levels in predicting concurrent occurrences of self-reported URIs. For these outcomes, low immune reactors were more likely to experience an URI during high stress than low stress weeks. High immune reactors did not exhibit differences in weekly URIs as a function of weekly stress level. The SNS reactivity markers did not moderate the association of stress and URI incidence in either analysis. Conclusions: Acute HPA and immune responses to laboratory stressors are markers of how vulnerable people are to the increased risk for URI associated with stressors in the natural environment. Key words: reactivity, cardiovascular, immune, cortisol, upper respiratory illness, common cold.
Stress, immune reactivity and susceptibility to infectious disease
2002
Psychological stress is known to affect immune function and to predict infectious disease susceptibility. However, not all individuals who are stressed develop disease. In the present article, we report on a series of studies from our laboratory describing interindividual variability of immune responses to psychological stress. In our initial series of experimental investigations, we demonstrated that acute laboratory stress alters both quantitative and functional components of cellular immunity.
Psychosomatic Medicine, 2001
Objectives: This study attempted to determine whether stress of moderate intensity could modulate the antibody response to an influenza vaccination in healthy young adults, identify critical periods during which stress could influence antibody response, and delineate behavioral and biological pathways that might explain relations between stress and antibody. Methods: A cohort of 83 healthy young adults underwent 13 days of ambulatory monitoring before, during, and after vaccination. Four times daily, subjects reported the extent to which they felt stressed and overwhelmed and collected a saliva sample that was later used to measure cortisol. A battery of health practices (cigarette smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, sleep hygiene) was assessed daily. Antibody titers to the vaccine components were measured at baseline and at 1-month and 4-month follow-up assessments. Results and Conclusions: To the extent that they reported higher levels of stress across the monitoring period, subjects exhibited poorer antibody responses to the New Caledonia strain of the vaccine. Stress ratings on the 2 days before the vaccine and the day it was given were not associated with antibody response. However, the 10 days afterward appeared to be a window of opportunity during which stress could shape the long-term antibody response to varying degrees. With respect to potential mediating pathways, little evidence emerged in favor of cortisol secretion, alcohol consumption, physical activity, or cigarette smoking. However, analyses were consistent with a pattern in which feelings of stress and loss of sleep become locked into a feed-forward circuit that ultimately diminishes the humoral immune response. These findings may shed light on the mechanisms through which stress increase vulnerability to infectious disease.
Physiology & Behavior, 1996
HALL, S. AND A. SMITH. Inoestigation of the effects and aftereffects of naturally occurring upper respiratory tract illnesses on mood and performance. PHYSIOL BEHAV 59(3) 569-577, 1996.-This study examined the effects and aftereffects of naturally occurring upper respiratory tract illnesses on mood and performance. Twenty-six subjects (12 males, 14 females, mean age 23 years 10 months, age range 18-39 years) were tested once a week for a period of a month. Fifteen subjects were suffering from a common cold on the first week and the other 11 subjects were matched healthy control,;. Subjects attended for an initial 3-h testing period that consisted of a set of practice trials and two test sessions involving mood rating and performance of a battery of tests measuring psychomotor functions, attention, and memory. Sessions 3, 4, and 5 took place 1, 2, and 3 weeks later, respectively. In addition to measuring mood and mental performance, symptom severity was rated on a subjective checklist. The results showed that subjects with a cold reported an increase in negative mood and that this was only significant in the first week. Impairments of psychomotor function (simple reaction time and tracking) were also observed at this time. Performance of sustained and selective attention tasks was also impaired in subjects with colds but this effect was only significant in the second week. Other fu:~ctions such as working and semantic memory were unimpaired in subjects with colds at any point in the experiment Overall, the present results confirm many of the earlier results obtained in studies of experimentally induced upper respiratory tract illnesses. Indeed, these results are both of great practical importance and theoretical interest and further studies must now elucidate the mechanisms underlying these effects. Common cold Upper respiratory tract illness Performance Mood Postviral effects UPPER respiratory tract illnesses (URTIs), such as the common cold or influenza, are wiide spread, frequent, and a major cause of absenteeism from work and education. Recent research on the effects of experimentally induced URTIs suggests that they influence aspects of mental performance and mood. The primary aim of the present study was to determine whether such effects are observed during the symptomatic stage of naturally occurring URTIs and whether behavioural problems continue into convalescence. Evidence for detrimental effects of naturally occurring URTIs on performance comes largely from anecdotal reports and case histories (12,34). There is also a single study suggesting that such illnesses may influence the performance of school children (13). However, a recent study (21) could find no significant relationship between the prevalence of work-related accidents and the incidence of URTIs. These contradictory results may, at least in part, reflect the difficulties inherent in studying naturally occurring viral infections. To overcome these problems, a series of studies was conducted at the MRC Common Cold Unit, Salisbury, UK, examining the effects of experimentally induced UR-TIs on performance and mood. Both the routine of the common cold unit and the effects of experimentally induced URTIs on performance have been reviewed in detail elsewhere (3,20) and the results obtained are briefly summarised: 1. Cold-type viral infection led to impaired performance on psychomotor tasks, involving hand-eye coordination (17,18).
Stresse crónico e imunidade à vacina contra a gripe em profissionais de saúde
Introduction: Chronic stress can influence immune response to vaccines. Healthcare workers are exposed to stressors and biological hazards, the health effects of which may be prevented through vaccination. Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the association between stress in nurses and: (1) insufficient response to influenza vaccine, assessed one month after vaccination (T 1); (2) the drop in haemagglutination-inhibition (HAI) antibodies (ab) six months after vaccination (T 6). Methods: A nested case-control study was carried out with 136 healthy hospital nurses. Individual interviews, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ 12) and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-HSS) were applied in order to determine the presence of stress, using the triangulation method at the beginning of the study (T 0). Influenza vaccine was administered and titres of HAI above each strain composing influenza vaccine before vaccination (T 0), at T 1 and T 6 were assessed. Results: There was no statistically relevant (5%) relationship between stress and the insufficient immune response to the vaccine at T 1. Nevertheless, there was an association between stress and the drop in HAI ab AH 1 at T 6 , when we assessed stress by the triangulation method using an interview (p = 0.006), GHQ 12 (p = 0.045) and combination of criteria (p = 0.001), even after multivariate analysis (respectively, p = 0.01, p < 0.05 and p = 0.002). The odds ratios were, respectively, 3.64, 2.73 and 5.22. Conclusions: The association we found, between chronic stress and the drop in HAI ab at T 6 , corroborates the hypothesis that stress can negatively influence immune response. Therefore, it seems reasonable to consider this issue when we implement vaccination programmes for healthcare workers.
Psychobiologic Reactivity to Stress and Childhood Respiratory Illnesses
Psychosomatic Medicine, 1995
Psychological stress is thought to undermine host resistance to infection through neuroendocrine-mediated changes in immune competence. Associations between stress and infection have been modest in magnitude, however, suggesting individual variability in stress response. We therefore studied environmental stressors, psychobiologic reactivity to stress, and respiratory illness incidence in two studies of 236 preschool children. In Study 1,137 3-to 5-year-old children from four childcare centers underwent a laboratory-based assessment of cardiovascular reactivity (changes in heart rate and mean arterial pressure) during a series of developmentally challenging tasks. Environmental stress was evaluated with two measures of stressors in the childcare setting. The incidence of respiratory illnesses was ascertained over 6 months using weekly respiratory tract examinations by a nurse. In Study 2, 99 5-year-old children were assessed for immune reactivity (changes in CD4+, CD8 + , and CD19+ cell numbers, lymphocyte mitogenesis, and antibody response to pneumococcal vaccine) during the normative stressor of entering school. Blood for immune measures was sampled 1 week before and after kindergarten entry. Environmental stress was indexed with parent reports of family stressors, and a 12-week respiratory illness incidence was measured with biweekly, parent-completed symptom checklists. The two studies produced remarkably similar findings. Although environmental stress was not independently associated with respiratory illnesses in either study, the incidence of illness was related to an interaction between childcare stress and mean arterial pressure reactivity (/3 = .35, p < .05) in Study 1 and to an interaction between stressful life events and CD19+ reactivity (/3 = .51, p < .05) in Study 2. In both studies, reactive children sustained higher illness rates under high-stress conditions, but lower rates in low-stress conditions, compared with less reactive peers. Stress was associated with increased rates of illnesses, but only among psychobiologically reactive children. Less reactive children experienced no escalation in illness incidence under stressful conditions, suggesting that only a subset of individuals may be susceptible to the health-altering effects of stressors and adversity.
Effect of Perceived Stress on Cytokine Production in Healthy College Students
Western Journal of Nursing Research, 2014
Chronic psychological stress impairs antibody synthesis following influenza vaccination. Chronic stress also increases circulating levels of proinflammatory cytokines and glucocorticoids in elders and caregivers, which can impair antibody synthesis. The purpose of this study was to determine whether psychological stress increases ex vivo cytokine production or decreases glucocorticoid sensitivity (GCS) of peripheral blood leukocytes from healthy college students. A convenience sample of Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) students completed the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Whole blood was incubated in the presence of influenza vaccine and dexamethasone to evaluate production of interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1-beta (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ). Multiple regression models controlling for age, gender, and grade point average revealed a negative relationship between PSS and GCS for vaccine-stimulated production of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF...