Pain in the elderly and its association with latent Epstein-Barr virus reactivation

Abstract

Background Stress promotes immune dysregulation, including reactivation of latent viral infections and inflammation. Immune dysregulation can have severe health consequences, including delayed wound healing, impaired responses to vaccination, development and progression of cancer, and onset of mood disorders. Little is known about how pain is associated with reactivation of herpesviruses. Objective To evaluate the effects of pain on reactivation of latent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), c-reactive protein (CRP), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) after controlling for age, gender, body mass index (BMI), race and income. Methods 51 bereaved and 64 controls were examined for pain (SF-36_Pain_Subscale) and immune dysregulation (EBV antibody titers, CRP, and IL-6). Linear regression models, adjusted for age, gender, BMI, race, and income were used to examine the association between pain and immune dysregulation. Results Results showed that greater pain was associated with higher reactivation of EBV ( β = −0.30; p β = −0.22; p β = −0.14; p = 0.16). Moreover, being older was associated with reactivation of EBV ( β = 0.32; p β = 0.27; p β = 0.34; p Conclusion Our results add to growing evidence of how pain can promote immune dysregulation. To our knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate an association between pain and reactivation of a latent herpesvirus, which provides important implications for health outcomes.