Reduction of immune function in life stress and depression

doi:10.1016/0006-3223(90)90016-U

Biological Psychiatry

Volume 27, Issue 1, 1 January 1990, Pages 22-30

https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-3223(90)90016-U Get rights and content

Abstract

Reduced cell-mediated immune function has been found in depressed patients and in distressed persons undergoing threatening life events. The present study examines the interaction between severe life stress and major depression to produce immune alterations in 36 matched pairs of hospitalized depressed patients and nondepressed controls. Both major depressive disorder and the presence of threatening life events in control subjects are independently associated with a 50% reduction of natural killer (NK) cytotoxicity. A decrease in natural cytotoxicity is significantly associated with depressive symptoms but not with age, alcohol consumption, or tobacco smoking. These findings of altered immunity provide further evidence that the physiological responses in chronic stress parallel those found in the syndrome of depression.

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^☆: Supported by VA-Merit Review and NIMH grant MH44275-01 to M. Irwin, the San Diego Veterans Administration Clinical Center on Alcoholism, and the NIMH Mental Health Clinical Research Center Grant (MH30914).

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Reduction of immune function in life stress and depression☆

Abstract

Lancet

J Immunol Methods

Biol Psychiatry

Brain Behav Immunity

Life Sci

Brain Behav Immunity

Life Sci

Psychiatry Res

Social Origins of Depression

Hamilton Depression Rating Scale: Extracted from regular and change versions of the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia