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When grief makes you sick: Bereavement induced systemic inflammation is a question of genotype

Overview of attention for article published in Brain, Behavior & Immunity, June 2012
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  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (93rd percentile)
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (74th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
1 news outlet
twitter
7 X users
facebook
1 Facebook page
wikipedia
1 Wikipedia page

Citations

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68 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
101 Mendeley
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Title
When grief makes you sick: Bereavement induced systemic inflammation is a question of genotype
Published in
Brain, Behavior & Immunity, June 2012
DOI 10.1016/j.bbi.2012.06.009
Pubmed ID
Authors

Christian R. Schultze-Florey, Otoniel Martínez-Maza, Larry Magpantay, Elizabeth Crabb Breen, Michael R. Irwin, Harald Gündel, Mary-Frances O’Connor

Abstract

Although bereavement is associated with increased morbidity and mortality in the surviving spouse, some widow(er)s remain healthy. Genetic variability in expression of inflammatory markers in response to stress may be the key to this observation. The present study compares bereaved vs. married/partnered older adults, investigating the impact of bereavement status, pro-inflammatory cytokine single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on circulating markers of inflammation and hypothesizing a gene by environment (GxE) effect. The study sample included 64 older adults, of which 36 were widow(er)s. Circulating levels of inflammatory markers IL-6, IL-1RA and sTNFRII were measured. Participants were genotyped for SNPs in the IL-6 gene (IL-6 -174 and -572), the IL-1β gene (IL-1β -511), and TNF-α gene (TNF-α -308). Grief severity was assessed with the Inventory of Complicated Grief. Bereaved participants had higher circulating levels of IL-1RA and IL-6. This increase could not be explained by pro-inflammatory genotype frequency differences, or Complicated Grief diagnosis. However, a GxE effect with the IL-6 -174 SNP moderated individual vulnerability to higher circulating levels of inflammation resulting from bereavement exposure. These results suggest a possible mechanism for the increase in morbidity and mortality in the surviving spouse. Genetic variability interacts with an environmental stressor, leading to increased inflammatory markers in genetically susceptible subjects only. For these patients, clinical interventions for bereavement-related stressor reduction might be crucial for overall health.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 7 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 101 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 1 <1%
Norway 1 <1%
Unknown 99 98%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 19 19%
Student > Master 12 12%
Student > Doctoral Student 11 11%
Student > Bachelor 10 10%
Researcher 9 9%
Other 24 24%
Unknown 16 16%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Psychology 43 43%
Medicine and Dentistry 13 13%
Nursing and Health Professions 6 6%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 5 5%
Neuroscience 5 5%
Other 6 6%
Unknown 23 23%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 18. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 13 October 2023.
All research outputs
#2,078,234
of 25,373,627 outputs
Outputs from Brain, Behavior & Immunity
#620
of 3,452 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#12,403
of 177,625 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Brain, Behavior & Immunity
#10
of 39 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,373,627 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 91st percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,452 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 21.9. This one has done well, scoring higher than 82% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 177,625 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 93% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 39 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 74% of its contemporaries.