Abstract
ObjectivesThere is a large literature linking inflammation with mental ill health, but a much smaller literature focusing on mental wellbeing. Specifically, it remains unclear whether mental wellbeing is longitudinally and independently associated with inflammation or only via associated changes in mental ill health. MethodsThis study used data from 8780 adults aged 50+ in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Hedonic wellbeing (both positive affect and life satisfaction) and eudemonic wellbeing (self-realisation and control-autonomy) were measured at data collection waves 2 (2004/05), 4 (2008/09) and 6 (20012/13), along with measures of C-reactive protein (CRP), fibrinogen and white blood cells (WBC). Fixed effects modelling was performed to identify the longitudinal relationship between wellbeing and inflammation, adjusting for time-varying mental ill health and other identified confounders. ResultsBoth measured aspects of hedonic wellbeing were associated with lower WBC count, independent of mental ill health. For life satisfaction, this relationship was explained by confounders, whilst for positive affect it persisted. Both measured aspects of eudemonic wellbeing were associated with lower CRP, fibrinogen and WBC, independent of mental ill health. For control-autonomy, this relationship was explained by confounders, whilst for self-realisation it persisted. Results were present in both men and women, although more strongly in men, and were robust to a range of sensitivity analyses. ConclusionsThis study builds on the strong literature showing a relationship between mental ill health and inflammation by showing that there is also an apparently independent relationship between mental wellbeing, in particular eudemonic wellbeing, and inflammation that is unexplained by socio-economic or other time-constant factors and in some instances persists independent of time-varying confounders.
Highlights
A key hypothesis of in wellbeing research is that psychological wellbeing is accompanied by optimal functioning of multiple physiological systems (Ryff and Singer, 1998)
This study found longitudinal associations between hedonic wellbeing and white blood cells (WBC), and between eudemonic wellbeing and WBC, C-reactive protein (CRP) and fibrinogen
Increases in hedonic wellbeing were associated with decreases in WBC, while increases in eudemonic wellbeing were associated with decreases in WBC, CRP and fibrinogen
Summary
A key hypothesis of in wellbeing research is that psychological wellbeing is accompanied by optimal functioning of multiple physiological systems (Ryff and Singer, 1998). A very small number of studies have explored the relationship between wellbeing and inflammation over time. These have shown some similar patterns, such as an association between higher levels of overall subjective wellbeing and lower levels of CRP 2 years later in older adults (Okely et al, 2017), higher levels of positive affect and lower CRP over a 12 month period amongst a small cohort of breast cancer survivors (Moreno et al, 2016), and lower levels of positive affect during a brief period of induced stress and increased IL-1β reactivity in a small laboratory study (Aschbacher et al, 2012). Whether patterns of change in wellbeing and inflammation are related over longer periods and in larger samples remains unexplored
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