Stress and Immunity: Age Enhances the Risks
Current Directions in Psychological SciencePublished 1 February 2001
Janice K. Kiecolt‐Glaser, Ronald Glaser
Citations76
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score3.21
SNIP3.16
Generate an AI Snapshot to get a quick, structured summary of this paper.
Study Snapshot
ObjectiveStudy objective
MethodsResearch methodology
PopulationPopulation studied
Sample sizeSample sizes
OutcomesStudy outcomes here
ResultsStudy results comes here
LimitationsResearch study limitations comes here
A concise AI-generated summary of the paper will appear here once you click Generate AI Snapshot.
TL;DR
The data suggest that aging interacts with stress and depression to enhance risks for morbidity and mortality among older adults.
Abstract
A competent immune response is central to good health. There is good evidence that both aging and psychological stress can dysregulate immune function, resulting in changes in various aspects of the immune response that are large enough to have consequences for health. Older adults appear to show even greater immunological impairments associated with stress or depression than younger adults. Thus, the data suggest that aging interacts with stress and depression to enhance risks for morbidity and mortality among older adults.
Keywords
NeuroscienceHealth Professions
Psychological BulletinThe relationship between social support and physiological processes: A review with emphasis on underlying mechanisms and implications for health.
2,655 Citations1996Bert N. Uchino, John T. Cacioppo +1 more
Recommendations and directions for future research include the importance of conceptualizing social support as a multidimensional construct, examination of potential mechanisms across levels of analyses, and attention to the physiological process of interest.
The LancetSlowing of wound healing by psychological stress
1,101 Citations1995Janice K. Kiecolt‐Glaser, P.T. Marucha +3 more
The effects of psychological stress, caused by caring for a relative with Alzheimer's disease, on wound healing are investigated and stress-related defects in wound repair could have important clinical implications, for instance for recovery from surgery.
Psychosomatic MedicineSpousal caregivers of dementia victims: longitudinal changes in immunity and health.
1,001 Citations1991Janice K. Kiecolt‐Glaser, Jason R. Dura +3 more
Caregivers who reported lower levels of social support at intake and who were most distressed by dementia‐related behaviors showed the greatest and most uniformly negative changes in immune function at follow‐up.
Psychological BulletinDepression and immunity: A meta-analytic review.
802 Citations1993Tracy B. Herbert, Sheldon Cohen
A meta-analysis indicated that clinical depression was associated with several large alterations in cellular immunity, and there was also evidence of a linear relation between intensity of depressive affect and indicators of cellular immunity.
Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesChronic stress alters the immune response to influenza virus vaccine in older adults.
795 Citations1996Janice K. Kiecolt‐Glaser, Ronald Glaser +3 more
It is demonstrated that down-regulation of the immune response to influenza virus vaccination is associated with a chronic stressor in the elderly, which could have implications for vulnerability to infection among older adults.
American PsychologistPsychological influences on surgical recovery: Perspectives from psychoneuroimmunology.
565 Citations1998Janice K. Kiecolt‐Glaser, Gayle G. Page +3 more
A biobehavioral model is described that suggests a number of routes through which psychological and behavioral responses can influence surgery and post-surgical outcomes.
Health PsychologyPsychosocial enhancement of immunocompetence in a geriatric population.
316 Citations1985Janice K. Kiecolt‐Glaser, et al
Psychosomatic MedicineMarital Conflict in Older Adults
282 Citations1997Janice K. Kiecolt‐Glaser, Ronald Glaser +5 more
Both men and women who showed relatively poorer immunological responses across three functional assays displayed more negative behavior during conflict and characterized their usual marital disagreements as more negative than individuals who showed better immune responses across assays.
Elsevier eBooksStress and Immune Function in Humans
224 Citations1991Janice K. Kiecolt‐Glaser, Ronald Glaser
This chapter discusses stress and immune function in humans and how distress-related immunosuppression may have its most important health consequences in those individuals whose immune function is already impaired before the onset of a stressor.
Brain Behavior and ImmunityStress, Personal Relationships, and Immune Function: Health Implications
167 Citations1999Janice K. Kiecolt‐Glaser
As a clinical psychologist, the studies of greatest interest to me are those that have examined the links between close personal relationships and immune responses and, in turn, how these elements are translated into important health outcomes and these issues will be my primary focus.
International Journal of EpidemiologyImpact of Influenza on Mortality in Relation to Age and Underlying Disease, 1967–1989
157 Citations1993M Sprenger, Paul Mulder +3 more
This study stresses the serious effects of influenza, mainly in the elderly (95% of non-registered influenza mortality) and estimates the overall impact of influenza on mortality is estimated to be greater than registered influenza mortality by a factor of 3.6.
Geriatric medicineImmunology and Infectious Disease
44 Citations1990Edith Burns, James S. Goodwin
A tube of venous blood provides the immunologist with millions of cells with which to study antibody production, cytotoxicity, proliferation, migration, and other characteristics that are necessary for the continued health and survival of an organism.
Journal of the American Geriatrics SocietySurgical Stress in the Healthy Elderly
14 Citations1983Bernard S. Linn, Margaret W. Linn +1 more
The study points to the need to prepare the old, even those essentially in very good health, for even a minor surgical stress in order to improve their overall health outcomes.