Sponsor
This work was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (Fagundes: 1R01HL127260). At the time of writing, authors were supported by the following funders: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (Chen: F32HL164050), National Institute on Aging (Wu-Chung 1F31AG074648; Paoletti: 1F32AG079624; LeRoy 1K01AG073824-01A1), and National Institute of Mental Health grant (Brown: T32MH019391).
Published In
Psychoneuroendocrinology
Document Type
Post-Print
Publication Date
5-22-2025
Subjects
Spousal Bereavement -- Psychology
Abstract
Early widowhood is characterized by chronic stress and is associated with a higher risk of incident depression and cardiovascular-related morbidity and mortality. Peripheral inflammation is involved in the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder and atherothrombosis and may represent a common mechanism underlying widow(er)'s elevated risk for both health conditions. Chronic psychological stress sensitizes the release of proinflammatory cytokines during the peripheral stress response. The present study examined whether recent spousal bereavement enhances the inflammatory response to an acute, psychological stressor. Recently widowed older adults (n = 143) and non-widowed controls (n = 69) participated in a quasi-experimental study, during which they underwent the Trier Social Stress Test, provided multiple blood samples through an intravenous catheter (before stressor, 45 min post-stressor, 120 min post-stressor), and completed self-report questionnaires. Blood samples were assayed for serum Interleukin (IL)-6 levels. Mixed linear modeling was used to test hypotheses. There was a significant time × bereavement status effect on IL-6 after controlling for confounding variables. Widow(er)s showed a steeper increase in IL-6 per hour compared to non-bereaved adults. Findings suggest that the inflammatory stress response is heightened in widow(er)s, which may contribute to the mental and physical health risks associated with early widowhood.
Rights
Copyright © 2025. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1016/j.psyneuen.2025.107498
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/43976
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Citation Details
Wu-Chung, E. L., Brown, R. L., Suchting, R., Paoletti-Hatcher, J., Chen, M. A., LeRoy, A. S., Murdock, K. W., Heijnen, C. J., & Fagundes, C. P. (2025). Spousal bereavement enhances proinflammatory cytokine production to acute, psychological stress. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 178, 107498.
Description
This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published as: Spousal bereavement enhances proinflammatory cytokine production to acute, psychological stress. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 178, 107498.