Pessimism correlates with leukocyte telomere shortness and elevated interleukin-6 in post-menopausal women

Abstract The combination of less positive and more negative expectations for the future (i.e., lower optimism and higher pessimism) increases risk for disease and early mortality. We tested the possibility that expectancies might influence health outcomes by altering the rate of biological aging, sp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain, behavior, and immunity behavior, and immunity, 2009-05, Vol.23 (4), p.446-449
Main Authors: O’Donovan, A, Lin, J, Dhabhar, F.S, Wolkowitz, O, Tillie, J.M, Blackburn, E, Epel, E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affect
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging
Aging - blood
Aging - genetics
Aging - immunology
Allergy and Immunology
Attitude
Caregivers
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
Female
Health Behavior
Humans
Interleukin-6
Interleukin-6 - blood
Leukocytes - immunology
Leukocytes - metabolism
Middle Aged
Optimism
Patient Selection
Personality - genetics
Personality Inventory
Pessimism
Psychiatry
Regression Analysis
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
Stress, Psychological - blood
Stress, Psychological - genetics
Stress, Psychological - immunology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Telomere - genetics
Telomere length
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Summary:Abstract The combination of less positive and more negative expectations for the future (i.e., lower optimism and higher pessimism) increases risk for disease and early mortality. We tested the possibility that expectancies might influence health outcomes by altering the rate of biological aging, specifically of the immune system (immunosenescence). However, no studies to date have examined associations between optimism or pessimism and indicators of immunosenescence such as leukocyte telomere length (TL) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels. We investigated whether dispositional tendencies towards optimism and pessimism were associated with TL and IL-6 in a sample of 36 healthy post-menopausal women. Multiple regression analyses where optimism and pessimism were entered simultaneously, and chronological age and caregiver status were controlled, indicated that pessimism was independently associated with shorter TL ( β = −.68, p = .001) and higher IL-6 concentrations ( β = .50, p = .02). In contrast, optimism was not independently associated with either measure of immunosenescence. These findings suggest that dispositional pessimism may increase IL-6 and accelerate rate of telomere shortening. Mechanistic causal relationships between these parameters need to be investigated.
ISSN:0889-1591
1090-2139
DOI:10.1016/j.bbi.2008.11.006