Stress, in the form of a traumatic event or job strain, has been found to accelerate ageing of the immune system, potentially increasing a person’s risk of cancer and cardiovascular diseases such as a heart attack, according to a new study.
The research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), could explain age-related health and identify possible points for intervention.
As people age their immune system naturally begins to dramatically downgrade.
In advanced ageing, a person’s immune profile becomes extremely weak, affecting the cells in the body that enable its ability to fight off new invaders, and so sickness becomes more rife.
In the study, a cross-referenced data set from the University of Michigan’s Health and Retirement Study was used with various forms of social stress being calculated.
Responses from 5,774 adults over the age of 50 were used with questions relating to experiences with social stress, including stressful life events, chronic stress, everyday discrimination and lifetime discrimination.
Blood samples were then analysed and, as expected, people with higher stress cores had older-seeming immune profiles impacting their cancer and heart attack risk.
Immune ageing is associated not only with cancer, but with cardiovascular disease, increased risk of pneumonia and organ system ageing.
Researchers wanted to discover what accounts for drastic health differences in same-age adults with stress being a major risk factor.
“As the world’s population of older adults increases, understanding disparities in age-related health is essential,” said lead study author Eric Klopack, a postdoctoral scholar in the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology.
He added: “This study helps clarify mechanisms involved in accelerated immune ageing.”
Other health conditions increased by stress include:
- Heart disease
- Asthma
- Obesity
- Diabetes
- Headaches
- Depression
- Gastrointestinal problems
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Accelerated ageing
- Premature death
“In this study, after statistically controlling for poor diet and low exercise, the connection between stress and accelerated immune ageing wasn’t as strong,” added 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 ageing.”
Improving diet and exercise behaviours in older adults may help offset the immune ageing associated with stress.
