Social ties and susceptibility to the common cold.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the hypothesis that diverse ties to friends, family, work, and community are associated with increased host resistance to infection.


METHODS
After reporting the extent of participation in 12 types of social ties (eg, spouse, parent, friend, workmate, member of social group), subjects were given nasal drops containing 1 of 2 rhinoviruses and monitored for the development of a common cold.


METHODS
Quarantine.


METHODS
A total of 276 healthy volunteers, aged 18 to 55 years, neither seropositive for human immunodeficiency virus nor pregnant.


METHODS
Colds (illness in the presence of a verified infection), mucus production, mucociliary clearance function, and amount of viral replication.


RESULTS
In response to both viruses, those with more types of social ties were less susceptible to common colds, produced less mucus, were more effective in ciliary clearance of their nasal passages, and shed less virus. These relationships were unaltered by statistical controls for prechallenge virus-specific antibody, virus type, age, sex, season, body mass index, education, and race. Susceptibility to colds decreased in a dose-response manner with increased diversity of the social network. There was an adjusted relative risk of 4.2 comparing persons with fewest (1 to 3) to those with most (6 or more) types of social ties. Although smoking, poor sleep quality, alcohol abstinence, low dietary intake of vitamin C, elevated catecholamine levels, and being introverted were all associated with greater susceptibility to colds, they could only partially account for the relation between social network diversity and incidence of colds.


CONCLUSIONS
More diverse social networks were associated with greater resistance to upper respiratory illness.
Cohen
S
S
Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. SCOHEN@CMU.EDU
Doyle
W J
WJ
Skoner
D P
DP
Rabin
B S
BS
Gwaltney
J M
JM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003139:Common Cold / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012944:Social Support