Chronic stress in caregivers of dementia patients is associated with reduced lymphocyte sensitivity to glucocorticoids.

Caring for the chronically ill is associated with chronic distress. In view of the adverse effects of distress on cellular immune function, such distress may have implications for health. Indeed, it has been proposed that the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is a potential psychobiological mediator of these effects. In this study, we observed that elderly caregivers experienced greater distress and increased salivary cortisol than non-caregivers. In addition, caregivers had blunted mitogen-induced lymphocyte proliferation, lower mitogen-induced IL-2 production, and reduced lymphocyte sensitivity to glucocorticoids. These results indicate that chronic distress is associated with impaired cell-mediated immunity which is, in turn, associated with elevated basal steroid levels and altered steroid immunoregulation at the level of the lymphocyte.