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Depressive symptoms and life satisfaction in elderly women are associated with natural killer cell number and cytotoxicity

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Abstract

Well-preserved natural killer (NK) cell cytotoxicity (NKCC) is associated with healthy aging. The objective of the survey was to investigate psychological factors related to NKCC and NK cell populations in elderly women. A cross-sectional study involving 181 participants was conducted using the Japanese version of the 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and additional questions assessing psychological status and lifestyle. Spearman’s rank test revealed a significant negative correlation between NKCC and the GHQ depression subscale (GHQ-D) scores. Significantly reduced NKCC was found in participants presenting high GHQ-D scores (12 ≤ GHQ-D, n = 58) compared with those showing middle (8 ≤ GHQ-D ≤ 11, n = 55) or low (GHQ-D = 7, n = 68) scores. Adjusting for covariates regarding lifestyle, multiple logistic regression analysis was applied; consequently, significant associations were found between reduced NKCC and high depressive symptoms and between increased NK cell numbers and life satisfaction. These results indicated a clue to longitudinal studies in the future.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health and Psychosocial Medicine, Aichi Medical University School of Medicine, Nagakute-cho, 480-1195, Aichi, Japan

    Hirohito Tsuboi, Reiko Hori & Fumio Kobayashi

  2. Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Ichikawa, Chiba, Japan

    Noriyuki Kawamura

  3. Department of Health Science, Shizuoka Health Institute, Mishima, Shizuoka, Japan

    Yuko Iwasaki, Hiroichi Takeuchi & Osamu Fukino

Authors
  1. Hirohito Tsuboi
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  2. Noriyuki Kawamura
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  3. Reiko Hori
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  4. Fumio Kobayashi
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  5. Yuko Iwasaki
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  6. Hiroichi Takeuchi
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  7. Osamu Fukino
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Correspondence to Hirohito Tsuboi.

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Tsuboi, H., Kawamura, N., Hori, R. et al. Depressive symptoms and life satisfaction in elderly women are associated with natural killer cell number and cytotoxicity. Int. J. Behav. Med. 12, 236–243 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327558ijbm1204_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327558ijbm1204_4

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