title: Psychosocial factors and susceptibility to or outcome of acute respiratory tract infections.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To perform a systematic review of the literature to assess the possible effect that psychosocial variables may have on the susceptibility and/or outcome of acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs).
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed searches for relevant studies on PubMed, Scopus and PsychInfo.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified 44 studies published between 1986 and 2008, examining the role of psychosocial variables and the onset or progression of ARTI. Of these 44 studies, 41 (93.1%) showed at least one statistically significant association between psychosocial variables and susceptibility to ARTI; 20 (45.5%) revealed at least one statistically significant association between psychosocial variables and outcome of ARTI. Variables associated with susceptibility to and outcome of infection were higher levels of perceived stress, negative affect, anxiety and depression. Negative life events were associated with susceptibility to infection.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most of the relevant studies show a significant relationship between psychosocial factors and the onset or progression of acute respiratory tract illness. However, the psychosocial variables were not consistently evaluated across the included studies, and different methodological approaches were used to examine the association between psychosocial factors and acute respiratory tract illness.
authors.affiliation: Alfa Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Athens, Greece. m.falagas@aibs.gr
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Falagas
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Karamanidou
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Kastoris
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Karlis
authors.forename: P I
authors.initials: PI
authors.lastname: Rafailidis
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect; D001007:Anxiety / Q000150:complications; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications; D018450:Disease Progression; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications