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Flu Shots Work Best in Married Senior Citizens,
Worst in Those Sad
March 20, 2006 – Senior citizens who are happily
married show stronger responses to flu shots that those who are
unmarried, especially those who are widowed. And, flu shots do not work
as well in older adults who have recently experienced the death of a
family member or close friend, a new study shows.
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FLU 2005-06 |
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Bereavement and marriage “are the most key factors
for older adults, rather than general life-events stress and social
support, which have been related to immune response in previous studies
of young adults,” said lead researcher Anna C. Phillips, Ph.D., of the
University of Birmingham in England.
The study appears in the latest issue of Brain,
Behavior, and Immunity
Phillips and colleagues studied 184 people (80 men
and 104 women) ages 65 years or older who received a single flu shot
that offers protection from three strains of influenza. The researchers
analyzed antibody response at one month and 12 months after the shot was
administered.
The participants completed questionnaires at the
beginning of the study and at the one- and 12-month points about life
events in the past year such as health, familial and marital
relationships, housing, financial situation, and deaths of a spouse,
close family members or friends.
“Participants’ overall stressful life events
exposure was not significantly associated with the antibody response to
influenza vaccination,” the researchers write. “However, one particular
life event, bereavement, was negatively associated with one-month
antibody titer.”
Forty-five of the participants had suffered
bereavement in the year prior to vaccination. At the one-month antibody
check they had an average 69 percent lower level of antibodies to one
flu strain compared to non-bereaved participants, and an 83 percent
lower level of antibodies to another flu strain.
For one of the three flu strains, unmarried
participants had a 74 percent lower level of antibodies at the one-month
point than married participants who reported marital satisfaction.
A study in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine two
years ago by Gregory Miller, Ph.D., of the University of British
Columbia found that even modest stress reduces the effect of flu vaccine
in the first 10 days following vaccination. Previous research
demonstrated the effects of more severe stress on the immune system
among older people for longer periods of time.
According to Stewart Neufeld, Ph.D., of the
Institute for Gerontology at Wayne State University, “It is possible
that bereavement has a negative effect on the immune response due to
reduced exercise and poorer eating habits. More physical exercise and
better nutrition would be helpful in maintaining a more robust immune
system.”
However, the Phillips study measured exercise and
eating patterns and found they were not associated with antibody
response, possibly because the majority of the participants had
reasonably healthy habits.
Peter A. Lichtenberg, Ph.D., also of the Institute
of Gerontology, said, “Health outcomes are influenced by our biology,
our environment, our psychosocial experiences and our health behaviors.
This study shows how when one element is severely affected, the health
outcome is also affected.”
Steps can be taken to improve immune response in
the elderly, Phillips said, such as “bereavement counseling, improving
how people look after their health at different times through health
education, marriage counseling and training to improve marital
happiness.”
Link:
Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
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