Because both bereavement and depression have been associated with
impaired immune responses, the authors studied two indicators of immune
function, natural killer (NK) cell activity and measures of T cell
subpopulations, in 37 women who differed in the magnitude of recent life
events. Women who had experienced major life changes had lower NK cell
activity than women who had few changes. Severity of depressive symptoms in
these women was associated with an impairment of NK cell activity, an
absolute loss of suppressor/cytotoxic cells, and an increase in the ratio
of T helper to T suppressor/cytotoxic cells.
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