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To assess, to control, to exclude: Effects of biobehavioral factors on circulating inflammatory markers
Open accessAbstract
Behavioral scientists have increasingly included inflammatory biology as mechanisms in their investigation of psychosocial dynamics on the pathobiology of disease. However, a lack of standardization of inclusion and exclusion criteria and assessment of relevant control variables impacts the interpretation of these studies. The present paper reviews and discusses human biobehavioral factors that can affect the measurement of circulating markers of inflammation. Keywords relevant to inflammatory biology and biobehavioral factors were searched through PubMed. Age, sex, and hormonal status, socioeconomic status, ethnicity and race, body mass index, exercise, diet, caffeine, smoking, alcohol, sleep disruption, antidepressants, aspirin, and medications for cardiovascular disease are all reviewed. A tiered set of recommendations as to whether each variable should be assessed, controlled for, or used as an exclusion criteria is provided. These recommendations provide a framework for observational and intervention studies investigating linkages between psychosocial and behavioral factors and inflammation.
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“Health behaviors were assessed using validated self-report items (O’Connor et al., 2009) including cigarette smoking status (never/former/current), alcohol use (drinks per week), and physical activity (minutes per week of moderate-to-vigorous intensity activity).”
From Strong Enough to Suffer: Emotional Suppression, Stress Exposure, and Physiological Health Among Men Across the Life Course (2026) · cites this paper as O’Connor et al., 2009
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
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“As explained by O’Connor et al. (2009), behavioral and biological pathways can also mediate the effects of psychological factors on the inflammatory markers, such as regulation strategies.”
From Strong Enough to Suffer: Emotional Suppression, Stress Exposure, and Physiological Health Among Men Across the Life Course (2026) · cites this paper as O’Connor et al., 2009
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“We examined alternative explanations by statistically controlling for plausible demographic and biobehavioral confounders (29).”
From Clustering of depression and inflammation in adolescents previously exposed to childhood adversity (2012) · cites this paper as [29]
In the citing paper
“Based on prior work,12,45,46 we controlled for extraneous factors associated with inflammation.”
From Social Media Use and Its Link to Physical Health Indicators (2022) · cites this paper as [48]
In the citing paper
“Based on prior work (Horn et al., 2018; Lee and Way, 2019; O'Connor et al., 2009), we controlled for extraneous factors that have been associated with inflammation.”
From Social media use and systemic inflammation: The moderating role of self-esteem (2021) · cites this paper as O'Connor et al., 2009
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“Biomarker participants were also similar on most health-related characteristics, but were less likely to smoke (p < .01).”
From Socioeconomic Status Interacts with Conscientiousness and Neuroticism to Predict Circulating Concentrations of Inflammatory Markers (2017) · cites this paper as [40]
In the citing paper
“Love and colleagues (40) reported that the biomarker sample was comparable to the broader MIDUS II sample on age, sex, race/ethnicity, marital status, and income, although participants were more likely to have a college degree (p < .01).”
From Socioeconomic Status Interacts with Conscientiousness and Neuroticism to Predict Circulating Concentrations of Inflammatory Markers (2017) · cites this paper as [40]
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Adiposity, inflammation, and working memory: Evidence for a vicious cycle
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Life satisfaction and inflammation in couples: an actor–partner analysis
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C-reactive protein and response to lurasidone in patients with bipolar depression
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Inflammation and Elevation of Interleukin-12p40 in Patients with Schizophrenia
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“Cytokine levels in serum or plasma are confounded by a number of conditions, such as age, sex, socioeconomic status (O’Connor et al., 2009), metabolic syndrome and visceral obesity (Weisberg et al., 2003; Xu et al., 2003), smoking (De Leon et al., 2002), physical activity (Pledge et al., 2011),…”
BackgroundTaylor, B. K., Smith, O. V., & Miller, G. E. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph20010246 · Cited by 30
John‐Henderson, N. A., Marsland, A. L., Kamarck, T. W., Muldoon, M. F., & Manuck, S. B. (2015) · Psychosomatic Medicine · doi:10.1097/psy.0000000000000262 · Cited by 30
“These behaviors are associated with increased systemic inflammation and risk for inflammatory diseases (30).”
Jadhav, K. K., Daouk, J., Kurkinen, K., Kraav, S., Eriksson, P., Tolmunen, T., & Kanninen, K. M. (2024) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2024.11.071 · Cited by 33
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Pro‐ and anti‐inflammatory cytokine associations with major depression in cancer patients
Li, M., Kouzmina, E., McCusker, M., Rodin, D. L., Boutros, P. C., Paige, C. J., & Rodin, G. (2016) · Psycho-Oncology · doi:10.1002/pon.4316 · Cited by 29
Jutagir, D. R., Blomberg, B. B., Carver, C. S., Lechner, S. C., Timpano, K. R., Bouchard, L. C., Gudenkauf, L. M., Jacobs, J. M., Diaz, A., Lutgendorf, S. K., et al. (2017) · Breast Cancer Research and Treatment · doi:10.1007/s10549-017-4316-3 · Cited by 30
“Age, stage of disease, days since surgery, education, and BMI were included as covariates based on theoretical associations with inflammation [28].”
BackgroundMethodTrajectories of relationship stress and inflammatory processes in adolescence
Ehrlich, K. B., Miller, G. E., Rohleder, N., & Adam, E. K. (2016) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s0954579415000334 · Cited by 28
“Following standard practices in behavioral immunology research with humans (O’Connor et al., 2009), we modeled the following variables as potential confounders.1 Family socioeconomic status.”
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Moderators of inflammation-related depression: a prospective study of breast cancer survivors
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“These variables were used as covariates, consistent with prior work [32, 56].”
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Guimond, A., Shiba, K., Kim, E. S., & Kubzansky, L. D. (2022) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2022.105746 · Cited by 29
Grief Symptoms Promote Inflammation During Acute Stress Among Bereaved Spouses
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“We included this continuous measure of physical activity as a covariate in all adjusted analyses on the basis of recommendations to assess physical fitness using reliable surrogates (O’Connor et al., 2009), such as frequency of intense exercise, which is associated with IL-6 among older adults (Reuben et al.”
MethodMac Giollabhui, N., Alloy, L. B., Schweren, L. J. S., & Hartman, C. A. (2021) · Brain Behavior and Immunity · doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2021.05.022 · Cited by 25
Affect variability and inflammatory markers in midlife adults.
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“—Due to their frequent associations with systemic inflammation, the following variables were included as covariates: number of health conditions, statin use, education, body mass index (BMI), age, and gender (O’Connor et al., 2009).”
BackgroundPositive affect and peripheral inflammatory markers among adults: A narrative review
Jones, D. R., & Graham‐Engeland, J. E. (2020) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.104892 · Cited by 33
“Conversely, it is possible to over-control for factors that may relate to the mechanistic process(es) by which PA links to inflammation (O’Connor et al., 2009).”
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“Demographic statistics (age and race), physical condition (body mass index [BMI]), cancer (disease stage), and treatment characteristics (chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and endocrine therapy) were used as covariates because of their potential to influence depressive symptoms and inflammation (O’Connor et al., 2009).”
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“, smoking, exercise, alcohol consumption, medical conditions, past hospitalizations/surgeries), WHR, and objective relationship history questions that may affect immune biomarkers [61].”
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Source-Specific Social Support and Circulating Inflammatory Markers Among White-Collar Employees
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“A broad array of potential biobehavioral factors that can affect the measurement of circulating markers of inflammation was considered in the statistical analyses [69].”
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“In addition, we adjusted for many potential confounders that could potentially explain associations between emotional reactivity and CRP (Appleton et al., 2013; O’Connor et al., 2009), thus improving confidence that observed relationships are not spurious.”
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“Third, because of recommendations for small sample sizes and risk of overfitting statistical models (68), we did not control for variables known to influence proinflammatory cytokines such as age, sex, socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity, or bodymass index (70).”
BackgroundEffects of adjunctive inflammatory modulation on IL-1β in treatment resistant bipolar depression
Murata, S., Murphy, M. L. M., Hoppensteadt, D., Fareed, J., Welborn, A., & Halaris, A. E. (2020) · Brain Behavior and Immunity · doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2020.01.004 · Cited by 25
Early-life stress, depressive symptoms, and inflammation: the role of social factors
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Self-citationAging as a Context for the Role of Inflammation in Depressive Symptoms
Straka, K., Tran, M.-L. M., Millwood, S. N., Swanson, J., & Kuhlman, K. R. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2020.605347 · Cited by 26
“Current smokers were excluded due to tobacco smoking being linked to increases in inflammatory markers such as IL-6 and CRP (59).”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialNeurotrophic and inflammatory markers in bipolar disorder: A prospective study
van den Ameele, S., Coppens, V., Schuermans, J., Boer, P. D., Timmers, M., Fransén, E., Sabbe, B., & Morrens, M. (2017) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.07.003 · Cited by 25
“Smoking is known for its systemic pro-inflammatory effects (Arnson et al., 2010; O'Connor et al., 2009; Tanni et al., 2010), however similar cytokine levels between smokers and non-smokers have been found (Lee et al., 2017).”
BackgroundPositive and Negative Affect and Salivary Markers of Inflammation Among Young Adults
Slavish, D. C., Jones, D. R., Smyth, J., Engeland, C., Song, S.-K., McCormick, N., & Graham-Engeland, J. (2019) · International Journal of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/s12529-019-09795-2 · Cited by 21
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“, 2018), inflammatory biomarkers (O’Connor et al., 2009; Muscatell et al., 2018), and diet (Darmon and Drewnowski, 2008; Nyaradi et al.”
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“As tobacco smoking can increase peripheral inflammatory marker levels [62, 63], we conducted an additional analysis including daily smoking additional binary covariate.”
MethodInfluentialMoriarity, D. P., Mengelkoch, S., & Slavich, G. M. (2023) · Brain Behavior and Immunity · doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2023.06.022 · Cited by 24
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“…2001), co morbidity (at baseline or 12 months) (He et al., 2001; van Jaarsveld et al., 2002), and the measures of disease severity NYHA-class (Carels, 2004; Riedinger et al., 2000) and 6 min walk test (Carels, 2004; O’Connor et al., 2009; Riedinger et al., 2000) as covariates in adjusted analysis.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialReduced CXCL1/GRO chemokine plasma levels are a possible biomarker of elderly depression
Fanelli, G., Benedetti, F., Wang, S., Lee, S.-J., Jun, T., Masand, P. S., Patkar, A. A., Han, C., Serretti, A., Pae, C., et al. (2019) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2019.02.042 · Cited by 23
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West, T. N., Zhou, J., Brantley, M. M., Kim, S. L., Brantley, J. G., Salzberg, S., Cole, S. W., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2022) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-022-01857-z · Cited by 26
An exploratory study of immune markers in acute and transient psychosis
Mahadevan, J., Sundaresh, A., Rajkumar, R. P., Muthuramalingam, A., Menon, V., Negi, V. S., & Sridhar, M. G. (2016) · Asian Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.ajp.2016.11.010 · Cited by 23
“…stress or severity of illness, and other confounding factors such as age, gender, BMI, exercise, diet, caffeine, nicotine and alcohol use, may have a role (O’Connor et al., 2009) and these may required to be controlled for in subsequent studies to lend greater significance to the current findings.”
BackgroundMethodFamilism and inflammatory processes in African American, Latino, and White youth.
Chiang, J. J., Chen, E., Leigh, A. K. K., Hoffer, L. C., Lam, P. H., & Miller, G. E. (2019) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/hea0000715 · Cited by 25
“Age, gender, household income, and pubertal status were included as covariates, as these factors have been shown to influence inflammatory processes (O’Connor et al., 2009; Straub, 2007; Trigunaite, Dimo, & Jørgensen, 2015).”
Linking Marital Support to Aging-Related Biomarkers: Both Age and Marital Quality Matter
Wilson, S. J., Bailey, B. E., Malarkey, W. B., & Kiecolt‐Glaser, J. K. (2019) · The Journals of Gerontology Series B · doi:10.1093/geronb/gbz106 · Cited by 23
Social media use and systemic inflammation: The moderating role of self-esteem
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“Based on prior work (Horn et al., 2018; Lee and Way, 2019; O'Connor et al., 2009), we controlled for extraneous factors that have been associated with inflammation.”
MethodCalvin, C. M., Batty, G. D., Lowe, G. D. O., & Deary, I. J. (2011) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0023940 · Cited by 22
Muthuramalingam, A., Menon, V., Rajkumar, R. P., & Negi, V. S. (2016) · Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine · doi:10.4103/0253-7176.178772 · Cited by 22
“These markers were selected due to their widely suspected, but unil date unconfirmed role in the pathophysiology of depression.[12-14] Second, we aimed to assess gender differences in inflammatory markers among clinical cases of depression.”
BackgroundReduced MIP-1β as a Trait Marker and Reduced IL-7 and IL-12 as State Markers of Anorexia Nervosa
Keeler, J. L., Patsalos, O., Chung, R., Schmidt, U. H., Breen, G. D., Treasure, J. L., Himmerich, H., & Dalton, B. (2021) · Journal of Personalized Medicine · doi:10.3390/jpm11080814 · Cited by 22
“Moreover, variations in cytokines broadly occur across ethnic groups, with evidence for some ethnic groups having greater levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines [48].”
BackgroundRelationship satisfaction, communication self-efficacy, and chronic fatigue syndrome-related fatigue
Milrad, S. F., Hall, D. L., Jutagir, D. R., Lattie, E. G., Czaja, S. J., Perdomo, D. M., Ironson, G. H., Doss, B. D., Mendez, A. J., FLETCHER, M. A., et al. (2019) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112392 · Cited by 20
“Age and body mass index (BMI) were used as theoretically derived covariates in the final models, as they are shown to contribute to the variability in psychosocial, neuroendocrine, and immunological measurements (O’Connor et al., 2009).”
MethodGouin, J., & MacNeil, S. (2018) · Attachment & Human Development · doi:10.1080/14616734.2018.1541515 · Cited by 21
“and geographical region of origin (Westerner: North and South America, Europe, Africa, Middle East versus Easterner: East Asia, South Asia) were included as covariates given their potential effects on systemic inflammation (O’Connor et al., 2009).”
BackgroundWardecker, B. M., Graham‐Engeland, J. E., & Almeida, D. M. (2020) · Journal of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/s10865-020-00180-z · Cited by 21
Chat, I. K.-Y., Nusslock, R., Moriarity, D. P., Bart, C. P., Giollabhui, N. M., Damme, K. S. F., Carroll, A., Miller, G. E., & Alloy, L. B. (2021) · Brain Behavior and Immunity · doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2021.03.006 · Cited by 19
“…self-medicate this dysphoria, individuals with both low reward neural activity and goal-striving tendencies may engage in un-healthy behaviors that increase inflammation, such as substance use and high-fat/high-sugar diets (Blum et al., 2000, 2014; Nettleton et al., 2006; O ’ Connor et al., 2009).”
InfluentialO’Brien, J. R., Loi, E. C., Byrne, M. L., Zalewski, M., & Casement, M. D. (2021) · Child Psychiatry & Human Development · doi:10.1007/s10578-021-01224-4 · Cited by 20
“While there are benefits to measuring both specimen types, it is important to note that circulating levels of inflammatory markers are often not correlated with stimulated production of corresponding markers [e.g., 41].”
BackgroundUchino, B. N., Ruiz, J. M., Smith, T. W., Smyth, J. M., Taylor, D. J., Allison, M., & Ahn, C. W. (2015) · Annals of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/s12160-015-9699-y · Cited by 20
Cytokines and depression in cancer patients and caregivers
Li, M., Kouzmina, E., McCusker, M., Rodin, D. L., Boutros, P. C., Paige, C. J., & Rodin, G. (2017) · Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment · doi:10.2147/ndt.s144774 · Cited by 23
Educational Status, Anger, and Inflammation in the MIDUS National Sample: Does Race Matter?
Boylan, J. M., Lewis, T. T., Coe, C. L., & Ryff, C. D. (2015) · Annals of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/s12160-015-9687-2 · Cited by 20
“These factors represent important behavioral pathways that likely contribute to the links among education, anger, and race to chronic inflammation [43].”
Effect of socioeconomic status on secondary prevention of stroke
Liu, Q., Wang, M., Guo, J., Li, J., Li, C., & Qian, M. (2011) · International Journal for Quality in Health Care · doi:10.1093/intqhc/mzr021 · Cited by 20
Robles, T. F., Repetti, R. L., Reynolds, B. M., Chung, P. J., Arevalo, J. M. G., & Cole, S. W. (2017) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s0954579417000591 · Cited by 18
“Analyses relating children’s gene expression to measures of family conflict identified 248 gene transcripts showing .1.2- fold difference in average expression between the highest and lowest tertiles after controlling for child age, sex, ethnicity, BMI, PDS score, and family income (157 upregulated and 91 downregulate…”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationMeng, Y., & Kautz, A. (2022) · Frontiers in Immunology · doi:10.3389/fimmu.2022.902114 · Cited by 23
Financial strain, inflammatory factors, and haemoglobin A 1c levels in A frican A merican women
Cutrona, C. E., Abraham, W. T., Russell, D. W., Beach, S. R. H., Gibbons, F. X., Gerrard, M., Monick, M. M., & Philibert, R. A. (2014) · British Journal of Health Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjhp.12120 · Cited by 19
Freeman, J. A., Bauldry, S., Volpe, V. V., Shanahan, M. J., & Shanahan, L. (2016) · Psychosomatic Medicine · doi:10.1097/psy.0000000000000309 · Cited by 19
“We then estimated six nested regression models predicting hs-CRP with SSS, assessing whether SSS was associated with CRP independent of oSES measures and common covariates of both SES and CRP (44).”
MethodSelf-Rated Health and Inflammation: A Test of Depression and Sleep Quality as Mediators
Uchino, B., Landvatter, J., Cronan, S. B., Scott, E., Papadakis, M., Smith, T. W., Bosch, J., & Joel, S. (2019) · Psychosomatic Medicine · doi:10.1097/psy.0000000000000683 · Cited by 17
“Consistent with previous work, analyses statistically adjusted for age, sex, BMI, income, and medication use related to health conditions such as statins and anti-inflammatory agents (44).”
Beach, S. R. H., Lei, M., Simons, R. L., Barr, A. B., Simons, L. G., Cutrona, C. E., & Philibert, R. A. (2019) · Journal of Family Psychology · doi:10.1037/fam0000509 · Cited by 24
“Because they have been shown to affect cytokine levels (see O’Connor et al., 2009), statistical covariates were included to control the lifestyle factors of drinking, diet, exercise, sleep quality, and BMI.”
Salivary Bioscience, Immunity, and Inflammation
Riis, J. L., Byrne, M., Hernández, L. M., & Robles, T. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-35784-9_9 · Cited by 13
Self-citationCzamanski-Cohen, J., Wiley, J., & Weihs, K. (2020) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-037521 · Cited by 19
Danielson, A. M., Matheson, K., & Anisman, H. (2010) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2010.06.003 · Cited by 19
“Cigarette smoking has been related to cytokine variations (O’Connor et al., 2009), but in the present study 10 women reported smoking, and this did not vary as a function of being in an abusive relationship, norwere thereany differences in cortisol or cytokine levels as a function of smoking, Fs < 1.”
BackgroundDepressive symptoms and immune response to meningococcal conjugate vaccine in early adolescence
O’Connor, T. G., Moynihan, J. A., Wyman, P. A., Carnahan, J. A., Lofthus, G., Quataert, S. A., Bowman, M., & Caserta, M. T. (2014) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s0954579414001242 · Cited by 19
“…included as covariates those factors known to correlate with immune markers in adults that may confound a mood–immune response association in the current study, including somatic factors such as recent illness, body mass index (BMI), sleep quality (O’Connor et al., 2009), and sociodemographic risk.”
BackgroundMethodKhan, A., Leonard, D., Defina, L., Barlow, C. E., Willis, B., & Brown, E. S. (2020) · Journal of Investigative Medicine · doi:10.1136/jim-2019-001254 · Cited by 18
Chat, I. K.-Y., Gepty, A. A., Kautz, M. M., Giollabhui, N. M., Adogli, Z. V., Coe, C. L., Abramson, L. Y., Olino, T. M., & Alloy, L. B. (2022) · Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science · doi:10.1016/j.bpsgos.2022.04.006 · Cited by 18
“Body mass index (58,59), current use of psychotropic and anti-inflammatory medication (60), major medical illnesses, depression history, and sex (61) have been associated with inflammation and/or brain function, and analyses were conducted with and without controlling for these variables.”
Hoogland, A. I., Small, B. J., Oswald, L. B., Bryant, C., Rodriguez, Y., Gonzalez, B. D., Li, X., Janelsins, M. C., Bulls, H. W., James, B. W., et al. (2023) · Cancers · doi:10.3390/cancers15133407 · Cited by 19
Self-citationShimanoe, C., Hara, M., Nishida, Y., Nanri, H., Otsuka, Y., Horita, M., Yasukata, J., Miyoshi, N., Yamada, Y., Higaki, Y., et al. (2018) · Stress · doi:10.1080/10253890.2018.1435638 · Cited by 16
Lindsay, E. K., Creswell, J. D., Stern, H. J., Greco, C. M., Dutcher, J. M., Lipitz, S. R., Walsh, C. P., Wright, A. G. C., Brown, K. W., & Marsland, A. L. (2021) · Psychosomatic Medicine · doi:10.1097/psy.0000000000000928 · Cited by 21
“To confirm this hypothesis, it will be important for future mindfulness intervention studies to carefully balance the recruitment of high-risk participants with exclusion criteria to minimize the interference of health conditions andmedications on biological outcomes of interest (63).”
BackgroundSelf-citationCultural Differences in the Link Between Supportive Relationships and Proinflammatory Cytokines
Chiang, J. J., Saphire-Bernstein, S., Kim, H. S., Sherman, D. K., & Taylor, S. E. (2012) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550612467831 · Cited by 21
“Gender, body mass index (BMI), perceived stress, and depressive symptomology were controlled for, given that past research has shown gender differences in relationships, and BMI, stress and depressive symptomology have previously been shown to influence levels of proinflammatory cytokines (O’Connor et al., 2009).”
Kuhlman, K. R., Cole, S. W., Irwin, M. R., Craske, M. G., Fuligni, A. J., & Bower, J. E. (2023) · Brain Behavior and Immunity · doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2023.01.004 · Cited by 19
Self-citationPlasma MCP-1 levels in bipolar depression during cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor combination treatment
Edberg, D., Hoppensteadt, D., Walborn, A., Fareed, J., Sinacore, J. M., & Halaris, A. E. (2020) · Journal of Psychiatric Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.06.010 · Cited by 17
Ruiz, J. M., Taylor, D. J., Uchino, B. N., Smith, T. W., Allison, M., Ahn, C. W., Johnson, J. J., & Smyth, J. M. (2017) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-017345 · Cited by 17
Inflammatory Exposure and Depression in Older Adults With Insomnia
Irwin, M. R., Boyle, C. C., Cho, H. J., Piber, D., Sadeghi, N., Castillo, D., Smith, M. T., Eisenberger, N. I., & Olmstead, R. (2025) · JAMA Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2025.1327 · Cited by 19
Self-citationA preliminary investigation of attachment style and inflammation in African-American young adults
Ehrlich, K. B., Stern, J. A., Eccles, J. S., Dinh, J., Hopper, E. A., Kemeny, M. E., Adam, E. K., & Cassidy, J. A. (2018) · Attachment & Human Development · doi:10.1080/14616734.2018.1541516 · Cited by 17
“These factors, in turn, have been linked to inflammation (O’Connor et al., 2009).”
BackgroundGiollabhui, N. M., Alloy, L. B., Swistun, D., Coe, C. L., Ellman, L. M., Moriarity, D. P., Stumper, A., & Abramson, L. Y. (2021) · Journal of Youth and Adolescence · doi:10.1007/s10964-020-01369-w · Cited by 16
Cannavale, C. N., Bailey, M. A., Edwards, C., Thompson, S. V., Walk, A. M., Burd, N. A., Holscher, H. D., & Khan, N. A. (2021) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2021.03.010 · Cited by 19
Bower, J. E., Partridge, A. H., Wolff, A. C., Cole, S. W., Irwin, M. R., Thorner, E. D., Joffe, H., Petersen, L., Crespi, C. M., & Ganz, P. A. (2022) · JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute · doi:10.1093/jnci/djac180 · Cited by 18
Self-citationNevels, T. L., Wirth, M. D., Ginsberg, J. P., McLain, A. C., & Burch, J. B. (2023) · SLEEP · doi:10.1093/sleep/zsad013 · Cited by 19
Associations between socioeconomic status and stroke in American adults: A population-based study
Fan, J., Ma, W., Liu, J., Li, W., Wang, W., Gu, J., & Zhou, B. (2023) · Preventive Medicine Reports · doi:10.1016/j.pmedr.2023.102354 · Cited by 15
Shan, M., Yang, Z., Sun, Z., Yang, Y., Cheng, Q., & Pan, Y. (2023) · Heliyon · doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20127 · Cited by 16
“…research and/or plausible biological relations: age, sex, ethnicity, education, marital status, poverty income ratio, body mass index (BMI), cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, physical activity, sleep duration, alcohol use, smoking status, and antidepressant use [37,38].”
BackgroundHerniman, S. E., Wood, S. J., Khandaker, G. M., Dazzan, P., Pariante, C. M., Barnes, N. M., Krynicki, C. R., Nikkheslat, N., Vincent, R. C., Roberts, A., et al. (2023) · Translational Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/s41398-023-02570-8 · Cited by 17
“Thus, IL-6, TNF-α and IFN-γ might represent important biomarkers for targeted treatments in schizophrenia and depression might represent an in fl ammatory endophenotype of schizophrenia with potential responsiveness to immune-based therapies.”
Measuring sickness behavior in the context of pancreatic cancer
Tobias, K. G., Rosenfeld, B. D., Pessin, H., & BREITBART, W. S. (2015) · Medical Hypotheses · doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2015.01.002 · Cited by 16
Saban, K. L., Hoppensteadt, D., Bryant, F. B., & DeVon, H. A. (2013) · Biological Research For Nursing · doi:10.1177/1099800413491422 · Cited by 16
“…because prior studies have identified an association between HSP70 and age (Pierpaoli, 2005) and used education as a proxy measure for SES because previous findings suggest that educational level is the SES measure with the strongest, most consistent correlation with CVD (O’Connor et al., 2009).”
MethodResultFerguson, E. G., Mannes, Z. L., & Ennis, N. (2019) · Drug and Alcohol Dependence · doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.01.021 · Cited by 17
“In particular, our findings demonstrated that women have higher CRP levels compared to men, aligning with previous research (Lakoski et al., 2006; Nazmi et al., 2008; O’Connor et al., 2009).”
ResultKuhlman, K. R., Urizar, G. G., Robles, T. F., Yim, I. S., & Schetter, C. D. (2019) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.05.017 · Cited by 18
Self-citationMethods, Variance, and Error in Psychoneuroimmunology Research: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Segerstrom, S. C., & Smith, G. T. (2012) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195394399.013.0022 · Cited by 16
Biological and other health related correlates of long-term life dissatisfaction burden
Rissanen, T., Lehto, S. M., Hintikka, J. J., Honkalampi, K. M., Saharinen, T., Viinamäki, H. T., & Koivumaa-Honkanen, H. T. (2013) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/1471-244x-13-202 · Cited by 16
“A strength of this study was its community sample and the availability of several important health-related measures, including biological markers, for assessing the factors related to the long-term life dissatisfaction burden [55].”
BackgroundKlaus, F., Guetter, K., Schlegel, R., Spiller, T. R., Seifritz, E., Cathomas, F., & Kaiser, S. (2021) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-021-98769-0 · Cited by 17
Figueroa‐Hall, L. K., Xu, B., Kuplicki, R., Ford, B. N., Burrows, K., Teague, T. K., Sen, S., Yeh, H., Irwin, M. R., Savitz, J. B., et al. (2022) · Translational Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/s41398-022-02049-y · Cited by 15
“influence levels of inflammation are controlled for in statistical analyses [4, 18, 19].”
BackgroundSelf-citationShan, M., Lü, S., Cui, R., Yang, Y., Sun, Z., & Pan, Y. (2022) · Journal of Psychosomatic Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2022.111041 · Cited by 15
Metadata
- Authors
- O’Connor, M.-F., Bower, J. E., Cho, H. J., Creswell, J. D., Dimitrov, S., Hamby, M. E., Hoyt, M. A., Martin, J. L., Robles, T. F., Sloan, E. K., Thomas, K. S., & Irwin, M. R.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Carnegie Mellon University (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2009-10
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 887-897
- ISSN
- 0889-1591 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2749909
- OpenAlex
- W2131056323
- Cited by
- 500
- References
- 178
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 52 · 2021: 43 · 2020: 39 · 2019: 37 · 2018: 31 · 2017: 27 · 2016: 29 · 2015: 30 · 2014: 22 · 2013: 25 · 2012: 34
- FWCI
- 6.98
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Brain Behavior and Immunity (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Aging (R01AG026364, R01AG034588, K23AG028452, P30AG028748, K01AG028404)
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL079955)
- National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH019925, T32 MH 19925, T32MH018399)
- National Cancer Institute (R01CA119159)
- National Center for Research Resources (M01RR000865)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Biological Psychiatry › Tryptophan and brain disorders
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Adipokines, Inflammation, and Metabolic Diseases
- Keywords
- circulating inflammatory markers, biobehavioral factors, psychosocial factors, inflammation, confounding variables, control variables, exclusion criteria, age and sex effects, hormonal status, socioeconomic status, body mass index, physical activity, diet, caffeine, smoking, alcohol, sleep disruption, antidepressants, aspirin
- MeSH terms
- Anticholesteremic Agents, Antihypertensive Agents, Diet, Humans, Inflammation, Interleukins, Physical Fitness, Research Design, Risk Factors, Risk-Taking, Smoking, Social Class, Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha, Biomarkers, Exercise, Epidemiologic Factors, Body Mass Index, Patient Selection, Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation
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