CELLULAR IMMUNE-RESPONSES TO ACUTE STRESS IN FEMALE CAREGIVERS OF DEMENTIA PATIENTS AND MATCHED CONTROLS

This study investigated whether the stress of caregiving alters cellul ar immune responses to acute psychological stressors. Twenty-seven wom en eating for a spouse with a progressive dementia (high chronic stres s) and 37 controls matched for age and family income performed a 12-mi n laboratory stressor. Cellular immune function was assessed by both f unctional and quantitative measures taken before (low acute stress), i mmediately after (high acute stress), and 30 min after (recovery from stress) exposure to the laboratory stressors. The laboratory challenge s were associated with diminished proliferative responses but elevated natural killer (NK) cell cytotoxicity; however, subsequent analyses s uggested that this elevated cytotoxicity was largely attributable to a n increase in the number of NK cells in peripheral blood. The results suggest that although the stress of caregiving diminishes cellular imm une function, caregiving appears to have little effect an cellular imm une responses to or recovery from brief psychological challenges.