Comment; Interesting study showing something we’ve suspected for a long time. Loneliness is a stressor, folks under stress don’t have the immune system strength that healthy non-stressed folks have. This study spells out why…
Leonie J.T.BalteradJane E.RaymondaSarahAldredbMark T.DraysoncJet J.C.S.Veldhuijzen van ZantenbSuzanneHiggsaJos A.BoschdShow morehttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2019.08.196Get rights and content
Highlights
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Aberrant inflammatory regulation may contribute to poorer health.•
More lonely adults exhibited a higher inflammatory response to a mild immune agent.•
Elevated immune reactivity was not associated with general socio-emotional factors.
Abstract
The established link between loneliness and poor health outcomes may stem from aberrant inflammatory regulation. The present study tested whether loneliness predicted the inflammatory response to a standardised in vivo immune challenge. Using a within-subjects double blind placebo-controlled design, 40 healthy men (mean age = 25, SD = 5) received a Salmonella Typhi vaccination (0.025 mg; Typhim Vi, Sanofi Pasteur, UK) and placebo (saline) on two separate occasions. Loneliness was assessed using the R-UCLA loneliness scale. Regression analyses showed that those that reported feeling more lonely exhibited an elevated interleukin-6 response (β = 0.564, 95% confidence interval [0.003, 0.042], p < .05). This association withstood adjustment for potentially confounding variables, including age, sleep quality, socio-emotional factors, and health factors. The present findings are in line with evidence that loneliness may shift immune system responsivity, suggesting a potential biobehavioural pathway linking loneliness to impaired health.
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