Stress accelerates immune aging according to research

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences PNAS on June 13 delves into agerelated health inequalities including the unequal toll of the pandemic on people and identifies potential intervention pointsAs the worlds population of older adults increases understanding disparities in agerelated health is essential Agerelated changes in the immune system play a critical role in declining health said lead study author Eric Klopack a postdoctoral scholar in the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology This study helps clarify mechanisms involved in accelerated immune agingAs people age the immune system naturally begins a dramatic downgrade a condition called immunosenescence With advanced age a persons immune profile weakens and includes too many wornout white blood cells circulating and too few fresh naive white blood cells ready to take on new invadersImmune aging is associated not only with cancer but with cardiovascular disease increased risk of pneumonia reduced efficacy of vaccines and organ system agingBut what accounts for drastic health differences in sameage adults USC researchers decided to see if they could tease out a connection between lifetime exposure to stress a known contributor to poor health and declining vigour in the immune systemThey queried and crossreferenced enormous data sets from University of Michigans Health and Retirement Study a national longitudinal study of the economic health marital family status and public and private support systems of older AmericansTo calculate exposure to various forms of social stress the researchers analyzed responses from a national sample of 5744 adults over the age of 50 They answered a questionnaire designed to assess respondents experiences with social stress including stressful life events chronic stress everyday discrimination and lifetime discriminationBlood samples from the participants were then analyzed through flow cytometry a lab technique that counts and classifies blood cells as they pass one by one in a narrow stream in front of a laserAs expected people with higher stress scores had olderseeming immune profiles with lower percentages of fresh disease fighters and higher percentages of wornout white blood cells The association between stressful life events and fewer readytorespond or naive T cells remained strong even after controlling for education smoking drinking BMI and race or ethnicitySome sources of stress may be impossible to control but the researchers say there may be a workaroundTcells a critical component of immunity mature in a gland called the thymus which sits just in front of and above the heart As people age the tissue in their thymus shrinks and is replaced by fatty tissue resulting in reduced production of immune cells Past research suggests that this process is accelerated by lifestyle factors like poor diet and low exercise which are both associated with social stressIn this study after statistically controlling for poor diet and low exercise the connection between stress and accelerated immune aging wasnt as strong said Klopack What this means is people who experience more stress tend to have poorer diet and exercise habits partly explaining why they have more accelerated immune agingImproving diet and exercise behaviours in older adults may help offset the immune aging associated with stressAdditionally cytomegalovirus CMV may be a target for intervention CMV is a common usually asymptomatic virus in humans and is known to have a strong effect on accelerating immune aging Like shingles or cold sores CMV is dormant most of the time but can flare up especially when a person is experiencing high stressIn this study statistically controlling for CMV positivity also reduced the connection between stress and accelerated immune aging Therefore widespread CMV vaccination could be a relatively simple and potentially powerful intervention that could reduce the immune aging effects of stress the researchers saidAlso ReadConservation warriors Catch a glimpse of MidDayrsquos lsquoNavigating the Wildrsquo hereThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever