ALEXITHYMIA, IMMUNITY AND CERVICAL INTRAEPITHELIAL NEOPLASIA - A PILOT-STUDY

Alexithymia and circulating lymphocyte subsets were studied in 62 wome n [36 healthy women and 26 women affected by cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN I, II, III) who were not aware of their status] in orde r to assess a possible relationship between alexithymia, CIN and immun ological lymphocytic functions. Alexithymia was estimated by the 20-it em Schalling-Sifneos Personality Scale and then correlated with periph eral blood lymphocyte subsets. The results of our study report an asso ciation between alexithymia and CIN. Alexithymic women show lower rate s of almost all lymphocytic subsets compared to nonalexithymic ones. T he difference was also found between alexithymic women affected by CIN and alexithymic women with an unsuspicious Pap smear. On the whole, t hese preliminary results seem to confirm data reported by other author s who hypothesized that a certain personality trait characterized by e motional inhibiton is related to a greater cancer vulnerability. Such relationships might be mediated by certain lymphocytic functions as th e result of the alexithymic status. Results reported here need more ex tensive surveys, in order to control potentially confounding factors r elated to the personality assessment of the subjects in this study.