The DOI matches its Crossref record; 177 of the 178 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
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.
In the citing paper
“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
In the citing paper
“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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Citations
Cites
Pearson, T. A., Mensah, G. A., Alexander, R. W., Anderson, J. L., Cannon, R. O., Criqui, M., Fadl, Y. Y., Fortmann, S. P., Hong, Y., Myers, G. L., et al. (2003) · Circulation · doi:10.1161/01.cir.0000052939.59093.45 · Cited by 6,401
MacKinnon, D. P., Fairchild, A. J., & Fritz, M. S. (2007) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085542 · Cited by 5,688
Psychological stress and the human immune system: a meta-analytic study of 30 Years of inquiry
Segerstrom, S. C., & Miller, G. E. (2004) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.130.4.601 · Cited by 3,334
The anti-inflammatory effect of exercise
Petersen, A. M. W., & Pedersen, B. K. (2005) · Journal of Applied Physiology · doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00164.2004 · Cited by 3,100 · cited 4×
“…exercise bout can also impact circulating levels of inflammatory cytokines and such effects are driven in part by the existing cardiorespiratory fitness level, duration and intensity of the exercise bout, amount of muscle mass recruited, and how the muscle is used (Petersen and Pedersen, 2005).”
BackgroundInfluentialPearsonT, A., MensahG, A., & AlexanderR, W. (2003) · Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation · doi:10.1097/00008483-200305000-00016 · Cited by 2,937
Socioeconomic Status in Health Research
Braveman, P., Cubbin, C., Egerter, S. A., Chideya, S., Marchi, K. S., Metzler, M. M., & Posner, S. F. (2005) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.294.22.2879 · Cited by 2,360
Inflammation: the link between insulin resistance, obesity and diabetes
Dandona, P. (2004) · Trends in Immunology · doi:10.1016/j.it.2003.10.013 · Cited by 2,170
Adipose Tissue, Inflammation, and Cardiovascular Disease
Berg, A. H., & Scherer, P. E. (2005) · Circulation Research · doi:10.1161/01.res.0000163635.62927.34 · Cited by 2,113
Babyak, M. A. (2004) · Psychosomatic Medicine · doi:10.1097/01.psy.0000127692.23278.a9 · Cited by 2,061
Winkleby, M. A., Jatulis, D. E., Frank, E., & Fortmann, S. P. (1992) · American Journal of Public Health · doi:10.2105/ajph.82.6.816 · Cited by 2,048
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Miller, G. E., Chen, E., & Parker, K. J. (2011) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0024768 · Cited by 1,785
Meta-Analysis of Cytokine Alterations in Schizophrenia: Clinical Status and Antipsychotic Effects
Miller, B. J., Buckley, P., Seabolt, W., Mellor, A., & Kirkpatrick, B. (2011) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2011.04.013 · Cited by 1,742
“Future studies should also control for factors known to influence cytokine levels (17).”
BackgroundGoldsmith, D. R., Rapaport, M. H., & Miller, B. J. (2016) · Molecular Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/mp.2016.3 · Cited by 1,683
Sleep and inflammation: partners in sickness and in health
Irwin, M. R. (2019) · Nature reviews. Immunology · doi:10.1038/s41577-019-0190-z · Cited by 1,138
Self-citationInflammation: Depression Fans the Flames and Feasts on the Heat
Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., Derry, H. M., & Fagundes, C. P. (2015) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2015.15020152 · Cited by 844
“exercise (170) Fastingmorningblooddraws reduce”
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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