title: Anger is associated with increased IL-6 stress reactivity in women, but only among those low in social support.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Social connections moderate the effects of high negative affect on health. Affective states (anger, fear, and anxiety) predict interleukin-6 (IL-6) reactivity to acute stress; in turn, this reactivity predicts risk of cardiovascular disease progression.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Here, we examined whether perceived social support mitigates the relationship between negative affect and IL-6 stress reactivity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-eight postmenopausal women completed a standardized mental lab stressor with four blood draws at baseline and 30, 50, and 90 min after the onset of the stressor and anger, anxiety, and fear were assessed 10 min after task completion. Participants self-rated levels of social support within a week prior to the stressor.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Only anger was related to IL-6 stress reactivity-those experiencing high anger after the stressor had significant increases in IL-6. IL-6 reactivity was marginally associated with perceived support, but more strikingly, perceived support mitigated anger associations with IL-6 stress reactivity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Supportive ties can dampen the relationship of anger to pro-inflammatory reactivity to acute stress. Implications to cardiovascular disease are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA, eli.puterman@ucsf.edu.
authors.forename: Eli
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Puterman
authors.forename: Elissa S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Epel
authors.forename: Aoife
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: O'Donovan
authors.forename: Aric A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Prather
authors.forename: Kirstin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aschbacher
authors.forename: Firdaus S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Dhabhar
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000786:Anger / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000097:blood*; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000097:blood* / Q000523:psychology
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6