STRESS AND IMMUNITY IN HUMANS - A METAANALYTIC REVIEW

This article presents a meta-analysis of the literature on stress and immunity in humans. The primary analyses include all relevant studies irrespective of the measure or manipulation of stress. The results of these analyses show substantial evidence for a relation between stress and decreases in functional immune measures (proliferative response t o mitogens and natural killer cell activity). Stress is also related t o numbers and percents of circulating white blood cells, immunoglobuli n levels, and antibody titers to herpesviruses. Subsequent analyses su ggest that objective stressful events are related to larger immune cha nges than subjective self-reports of stress, that immune response vari es with stressor duration, and that interpersonal events are related t o different immune outcomes than nonsocial events. We discuss the way neuroendocrine mechanisms and health practices might explain immune al teration following stress, and outline issues that need to be investig ated in this area.