Feeling Stressed Out Weakens
Immune System Response
Excerpt By Charnicia E. Huggins, Reuter's Health

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who consider themselves to be stressed out and who are anxious or otherwise psychologically distressed may be less able to fight off the diseases they have been immunized against, study findings suggest.

Consequently, "it might be important to monitor antibody status following vaccination when vaccinating those who are likely to be experiencing high perceived stress and low levels of psychological well-being," lead study author Dr. Victoria Burns of the University of Birmingham in England told Reuters Health.

In fact, the perception of high stress seems to be more important than whether or not individuals have actually experienced highly stressful events, the report indicates.

Burns and her colleagues looked at 60 freshmen undergraduate students who had been vaccinated against meningitis C between 1 and 16 months before they were enrolled in the study.

Based on blood samples, nearly three quarters (73%) of the students had a protective level of antibodies to the disease, while the remaining students had a less protective level--meaning they had fewer antibodies against the pathogen, the investigators report in the November/December issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.

Students who experienced a parent's death or some other highly stressful life event were no more likely than other students to exhibit a lessened immune response. However, those who reported high levels of perceived stress were five times more likely to have fewer antibodies, the report indicates.

This was true even among students who said they had not actually experienced many highly stressful events.

For example, nearly 8 in 10 of the students who considered themselves to lead highly stressful lives, but actually reported experiencing only low levels of stressful events, had a low level of antibodies in comparison to 65% of students who perceived their life as stressful and had gone through highly stressful events.

"It appears to be the perception of stress and poor psychological well-being, rather than the actual stressful events that you experience, that appears to be detrimental to your meningitis C antibody status following vaccination," Burns said.

"These are your typical stressed-out people," she said, adding that they may be the most likely to have physiological and psychological responses to stress.

Further, students who had high levels of psychological stress had a fourfold increased risk of having lower antibody levels. This increased risk was especially true for students who were identified as high in anxiety/insomnia and social dysfunction, the researchers note.

In light of the findings, people who are vaccinated during periods of high stress, such as students around the time of final examinations or new military recruits about to be sent off to war, should be re-evaluated at some point to make sure they have the appropriate level of antibodies in their blood against the diseases they are immunized against, Burns said.

Doctors and other healthcare workers usually just "jab them and assume they're okay," she said.

SOURCE: Psychosomatic Medicine 2002;64.

Reference Source 89

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