Antibodies dislike Grief?

For the elderly, bereavement or an unhappy marriage may weaken the effectiveness of a flu vaccine, but other stresses do not appear to affect the immune system's response to the shots. Those other stressors do affect younger people, research indicates.

British researchers gave blood tests to 184 people over 65 to establish whether they had antibodies to influenza virus strains. The participants also filled out detailed questionnaires about recent life events, social support, marital status and satisfaction and health habits. Finally, they each received a flu vaccine effective against three different strains of virus. The results appear in the May issue of Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.

At a test at one month after the vaccination, 32 percent of the group who had suffered the death of a family member or friend during the previous year had a significantly weakened antibody response to two of the strains compared with those who had not endured such a stress. Those who were happily married or living with a partner had a significantly increased antibody response to one of the strains compared with those who were not. These factors remained significant even after adjusting for other factors that might affect the production of antibodies.

According to studies cited in the article, vaccine response in younger people is also affected by stressful events, including some much less serious than bereavement.