•Those who were spousally bereaved had lower HRV than those who were not bereaved.•Widowers had higher ex vivo cytokine production than non-bereaved age-matched controls.•These findings add to the ...growing literature revealing the mechanisms that underlie bereavement-related cardiovascular problems.
The loss of a spouse is a highly stressful event that puts people at excess risk of mortality. Excess mortality among those who are widowed is highest in the first six months after the death of a spouse and decreases over time. Heart disease accounts for the largest proportion of these deaths. The psychological stress associated with stressful life events can enhance inflammation and lower heart rate variability (HRV). Both lower HRV and higher inflammation are risk factors for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Thirty-two recently bereaved individuals (Mean = 89.68 days since death, SD = 17.09) and 33 age-matched comparisons completed a blood draw, EKG, and self-report questionnaires. In both adjusted and unadjusted models, spousal bereavement was associated with enhanced pro-inflammatory cytokine production by in vitro lipolysaccharide-stimulated peripheral blood leukocytes. Moreover, spousal bereavement was associated with lower HRV in comparison to the comparison group. This study is the first to demonstrate that bereavement is associated with a more pronounced ex vivo cytokine production and lower HRV in a population that exclusively consisted of widows and widowers. These findings add to the growing literature revealing the mechanisms that underlie bereavement-related cardiovascular problems. Future longitudinal studies are needed to determine the temporal relation between these risks. Understanding the biological mechanisms that underlie this stressful life event could allow researchers to create therapeutic targets for interventions to reduce or prevent the toll of a “broken heart.”
Abstract
During the early stages of the COVID‐19 pandemic, governments issued public health safety measures (e.g., “stay‐at‐home” ordinances), leaving many people “missing out” on integral social ...aspects of their own lives. The fear of missing out, popularly shortened as, “FoMO,” is a felt sense of unease one experiences when they perceive they may be missing out on rewarding and/or enjoyable experiences. Among 76 participants (ages
M
= 69.36,
SD
= 5.34), who were at risk for hospitalization or death if infected with COVID‐19, we found that FoMO was associated with depressive symptoms at Time 1, even when controlling for perceived stress, loneliness, and fear of COVID‐19. However, FoMO did not predict future depressive symptoms, about 1 week later, when controlling for Time 1 depressive symptoms. These findings provide further evidence that FoMO is associated with depressive symptoms in a short period of time even when accounting for other powerful social factors such as loneliness. Future research should explore the potential causal relationships between FoMO and depression, especially those that may establish temporal precedence.
•Inflammatory markers can distinguish bereaved spouses higher on grief severity compared with bereaved spouses with lower grief severity.•Even in a population high on depressive symptoms, there is a ...positive relationship between depression and inflammation.•Similar to the general population, inflammation is an important marker of elevated levels of depression among bereaved spouses.
Grief is conceptualized by strong negative emotions, which include longing, sadness, and preoccupations with thoughts, recollections, and images of the spouse. In the initial months after the loss of a spouse, those who are widowed are at risk for cardiovascular problems and premature mortality. In the general population, depression is characterized by chronic low-grade inflammation, a key predictor of cardiovascular problems, morbidity, and mortality. Although depression and grief share similarities, they are distinct constructs. We aimed to identify if grief was related to inflammation among those who had a spouse recently die. We also sought to determine if those who are widowed and already experience elevated levels of depressive symptoms compared with the general population had higher levels of inflammation compared with those who are widowed who report fewer depressive symptoms. Ninety-nine recently bereaved individuals (M = 84.74 days since passing, SD = 18.17) completed a blood draw and psychological assessments. Proinflammatory T cell-derived cytokines were assessed, which included interferon gamma (IFN-γ), interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), IL17-A, and IL-2. Bereaved individuals with a higher grief severity (using an established cut-score) had higher levels of the proinflammatory cytokines IFN-γ, IL-6, and TNF-α than those with less grief severity. Those who experienced higher levels of depression exhibited elevated levels of proinflammatory cytokines compared with those who had lower levels of depression (using a continuous measure of depressive symptoms, as well as an established cut score). This is the first study to demonstrate that inflammatory markers can distinguish those who are widowed based on grief severity such that those who are higher on grief severity have higher levels of inflammation compared with those who are lower on grief severity. These findings also add to the broader literature on depression and inflammation by showing that even in a population with high levels of depressive symptoms, there is a positive relationship between depression and inflammation.
Abstract
Trait self-control (TSC) is a well-known predictor of well-being. TSC may reduce distraction from hedonistic pursuits and enable more effective goal-directed behavior. Attachment anxiety ...(AA) is a trait that predicts lower relationship quality and lower well-being; people high on AA are characterized by hyper-sensitivity, proximity-seeking and excessive rumination. In retirement, these traits may interact to predict wellbeing. Methods: 120 retired participants took part in data collection (M = 62.37 years old; SD = 10.07 years; 68% women, 70% white). Data collection included self-reported AA (Experience in Close Relationships), TSC (Brief Self-Control Scale), depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale) and emotional well-being (RAND 36-Item Health Survey). We conducted hierarchical linear regressions and accounted for demographic and health-related covariates. Results: TSC was negatively related to depressive symptoms and positively related to emotional well-being. AA was positively related to depressive symptoms and negatively related to emotional well-being. We found an interaction predicting depressive symptoms such that participants with low TSC and high AA had the highest depressive symptoms (p = .036). This interaction was not significant for emotional well-being. Discussion: After retiring, maintaining a healthy social life may be more effortful, as there are fewer ‘built-in’ social interactions (i.e., with coworkers). Retirees with higher TSC may be able to maintain their social life more effectively than those with lower TSC. Similarly, people with lower AA may be able to obtain more enjoyment from their social lives. Together, lower AA and higher TSC may be protective mechanisms for depressive symptoms.
Objective: Loneliness is a well-established risk factor for poor physical health. Much less is known about how loneliness affects patient-reported outcomes (PROs), such as somatic symptoms, which are ...increasingly important for guiding symptom management and assessing quality of patient care. The current study investigates whether (a) loneliness and social isolation predict cold symptoms independent of each other, and (b) whether loneliness is a more robust risk factor than objective social isolation for experiencing cold symptoms. Method: As part of a larger parent study, 213 healthy participants completed the Short Loneliness Scale (LON) and the Social Network Index (SNI) at baseline. They were given nasal drops containing rhinovirus 39 (RV39; i.e., a common cold virus), then quarantined for 5 days during which they reported on subjective cold symptoms in addition to being monitored for objective indicators of infection. Data from 160 of the participants (who were infected with the virus) were used in the present analyses. Results: A hierarchical multiple regression revealed that baseline loneliness predicted self-reported cold symptoms over time (assessed via area under the curve), over and above demographic variables, season of participation, and depressive affect. Interestingly, social network size and diversity did not predict cold symptoms. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the perception of loneliness is more closely linked to self-reported illness symptoms than objectively measured social isolation. Assessing psychosocial factors such as loneliness when treating and evaluating the common cold could contribute to health care practitioners' understanding of their patients' experiences with acute illness.
Losing a spouse is the most stressful life event one can encounter. However, everyone grieves differently. For some people, adjusting to life without their spouse gets easier over time. For others, ...grief persists or even escalates. Anxiously attached individuals are at a higher risk for developing complications in the grieving process. Separation from an attachment figure prompts abrupt cessation of opioid release, which impacts feelings of distress and grief in response to loss. Individual differences in grief responses may depend on naturally occurring variation in the µ-opioid receptor gene (OPRM1), involved in mu opioid receptor signaling. 102 participants who have recently lost a spouse completed self-report measures of attachment and grief and underwent a single stick blood draw to collect genetic data. Even when controlling for clinically significant levels of depressive symptoms, bereaved individuals who scored high on attachment anxiety also reported significantly greater grief symptoms at about three months after losing their spouse. In some models, attachment avoidance trended toward significance; individuals who were more avoidant trended toward reporting significantly less grief symptoms than those who were less avoidant. Being a G allele carrier of the OPRM1 gene (specifically, the A118G polymorphism) was not related to grief symptoms. However, this cross-sectional investigation may underestimate the impact of the OPRM1 gene and its influence on individual’s sensitivity to grief responses across longer term grief trajectories.
Determining how streams develop naturally, particularly the ecological role of newly developed riparian canopy cover, is essential to understanding the factors that structure new stream communities ...and provides valuable information for restoring highly disturbed ecosystems. However, attempts to understand primary succession in riverine ecosystems have been hindered by a lack of data owing to the infrequent formation of new rivers on the landscape. In the present study, we used five streams formed following the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens (WA, USA) to examine the influence of canopy cover development on algal and benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages, biomass, and organic matter processing. Newly established closed canopy reaches had less available light, but no significant differences in algal biomass or macroinvertebrate assemblages compared to open canopy reaches. Instead, algal and macroinvertebrate communities were structured mainly by hydrologic differences among watersheds. In contrast, organic matter processing rates were sensitive to canopy cover development, and rates were faster under closed canopies, especially in late summer or after terrestrial preconditioning. After 40 years of stream and riparian primary successional development, canopy cover strongly influences ecosystem function, but aquatic organism assembly was more influenced by physio-chemical and hydrologic variation. Our findings provide insight into the development of in-stream assemblages and ecosystem functions, which is also relevant to efforts to address major disturbances to stream channels, such as volcanic eruptions, floods, forest fires, and clear-cut logging.
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