Social Ties and Health: Aggregating Data from Five Viral-Challenge Trials

描述(由申请人提供)：这个拟议的项目计划制作、记录和存档一个数据库，其中结合了5项预期的病毒挑战研究(9种不同的病毒)的最终研究数据，重点是研究心理社会因素在普通感冒易感性中的作用。在这些独特的研究中，对18-55岁的健康成年人进行了假设的预测变量和中介变量的评估，然后将他们实验地暴露在一种导致普通感冒的病毒中，并监测感染的发展以及疾病的体征和症状。临床疾病(在40%的志愿者中发现)被定义为既被感染又表现出疾病的体征和症状。这一设计允许确定给定研究中感兴趣的变量(例如，压力、个性)是否可以预测谁在接触病毒后患上了临床感冒。合并这5项研究的数据提供了在两项或更多研究中复制分析的机会，或者合并任何或所有研究的数据，从而允许有足够的能力来检测微小影响和复杂的调解和缓和测试。这项提议的第一个目的是利用合并的数据来解决有关社会关系在健康中的作用的重要问题。在6-14天的时间里，通过问卷调查和每日访谈，对社会关系的数量和质量进行了基线评估。将对汇总的数据集进行分析，以帮助确定(1)对健康最重要的社会关系类型；(2)将不同类型的社会关系与健康联系起来的独特机制；(3)可能有助于干预的社会关系的组成部分；以及(4)使他们或多或少对社会关系的影响做出反应的个人特征。其次，除了这些研究目标之外，这项应用的一个主要目的是将这5项研究的综合数据传播给更广泛的科学界。尽管每项研究都是为了解决一组特定的假设，但在多达1400名参与者的多项研究中收集了许多变量。这些变量包括：标准控制变量/协变量(例如，年龄、性别、种族、体重、季节和挑战病毒的特定抗体效价)；预测变量和中介变量，如社会关系、压力、个性、情感、社会经济状况、卫生做法、当地细胞因子反应和内分泌水平的衡量标准；以及疾病(感冒)评估，包括病毒相关的生物学和症状/体征结果。研究中常见的其他结果包括基础血压、心率和肺功能。个别研究还包括生物老化的标记物和急性应激反应的评估。这些独特而有价值的数据可以用来解决我们研究目标之外的许多问题。创建一个集中的、向公众开放的在线数据储存库将立即产生使其对科学界的价值最大化的效果。从长远来看，从这些数据中得出的发现可能会为通常不使用传统医学技术解决的可能的干预目标提供洞察力。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposed project plans to produce, document and archive a data repository that combines final research data from 5 prospective viral-challenge studies (9 different viruses) focused on examining the roles of psychosocial factors in susceptibility to the common cold. In these unique studies, hypothesized predictor and mediating variables were assessed in healthy adults aged 18-55 years, who were then experimentally exposed to a virus that causes the common cold and monitored for development of infection and signs and symptoms of illness. Clinical illness (found in 40% of volunteers) was defined as both being infected and expressing signs and symptoms of disease. This design allowed the determination of whether variables of interest in a given study (e.g., stress, personality) predicted who developed a clinical cold following viral exposure. Merging the data from these 5 studies provides the opportunity to replicate analyses across two or more of the studies or combine data from any or all of the studies, allowing adequate power for detection of small effects and sophisticated tests of mediation and moderation. The first aim of this proposal is to use the combined data to address important questions about the role of social relationships in health. Both the quantity and quality of social relationships were assessed at baseline using both questionnaires and daily interviews over 6-14 days. Analysis of the aggregated dataset will be conducted to help identify (1) the types of social ties that matter most for health; (2) the unique mechanisms linking different types of social ties to health; (3) components of social relationships likely to be conducive to intervention; and (4) characteristics of individuals that make them more or less responsive to the influences of social ties. Second, in addition to these research aims, a major thrust of this application is to disseminate the combined data from these 5 studies to the broader scientific community. Although each study was designed to address a specific set of hypotheses, many variables were collected across the multiple studies in up to 1,400 participants. These included: standard control variables/covariates (e.g., age, sex, race, body mass, season, and specific antibody titer to the challenge virus); predictor and mediator variables such as measures of social relationships, stress, personality, affect, socioeconomic status, health practices, local cytokine response, and endocrine levels; and assessment of illness (colds) including viral-related biology and symptom/sign outcomes. Other outcomes common across studies included basal blood pressure, heart rate, and pulmonary function. Individual studies also included markers of biological aging and assessments of acute stress response. These unique and valuable data could be used to address numerous questions beyond those included in our research aims. Creating a centralized and publicly available online data repository will have the immediate effect of maximizing their worth to the scientific community. In the long term, findings derived from these data may provide insight into possible alternative targets for intervention that typically are not addressed using conventional medical techniques.