Perceived stress and psychological well-being are associated with antibody status after meningitis C conjugate vaccination.
OBJECTIVE
Psychological stress has been associated with reduced immune response to a variety of vaccinations. This study is the first to examine antibody status after vaccination with a conjugate vaccine, in which a polysaccharide antigen is conjugated to a protein to elicit a thymus-dependent antibody response.


METHODS
Sixty undergraduate students, who had received the meningitis C conjugate vaccine before recruitment, attended a single testing session. They provided a blood sample and completed a battery of questionnaires, including the Life Events Scale for Students, Perceived Stress Scale, and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). Both meningitis C-specific antibody titer and the serum bactericidal assay titer to whole meningitis C bacteria were assayed.


RESULTS
High perceived stress, but not life events stress, was associated with low antibody titers. Poor antibody titers were also predicted by relatively low levels of psychological well-being as measured by the GHQ-28. Of the GHQ-28 subscales, anxiety/insomnia and social dysfunction were associated with antibody status. No psychological variables emerged from bivariate analyses as predictive of the adequacy of bactericidal titer.


CONCLUSIONS
This study provides the first evidence that antibody status after a conjugate vaccination may be susceptible to psychological influences.
Burns
Victoria E
VE
School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England. v.e.burns@bham.ac.uk
Drayson
Mark
M
Ring
Christopher
C
Carroll
Douglas
D
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000888:Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008581:Meningitis / Q000517:prevention & control*; D022401:Meningococcal Vaccines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D018074:Vaccines, Conjugate / Q000627:therapeutic use
D000888:Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic; D022401:Meningococcal Vaccines; D018074:Vaccines, Conjugate