VITAMIN E AND INFECTION IN THE ELDERLY

描述(改编自申请人的摘要)：感染一般， 尤其是呼吸道感染(RI)在 养老院，是#年发病率和死亡率的主要原因之一。 老年人。老年人感染发病率的增加是 多因素。然而，一个主要的促成因素是描述得很好的 细胞免疫和体液免疫随着年龄的增长而下降。更高的死亡率和 发病率以及较低程度的自给自足一直是 在免疫反应受损的老年人中有报道。申请者 已经表明，短期和长期补充维生素E 显著提高老年人的免疫反应。此外， 初步结果似乎表明，补充维生素E的老年人 个人自我报告的传染病发病率低30%。 与安慰剂组相比。补充维生素E的老年小鼠也有 与老年小鼠相比，流感感染后肺病毒滴度降低 摄取足够水平的维生素E，因此假设在 这个应用，那个补充维生素E将增强 长期护理老年人的免疫应答 设施；而这反过来又将减少发病率和严重性 国际扶轮，这应该会导致较少的病假天数和 抗生素的使用。该项目的具体目标是确定 补充维生素E一年对RI发生率的影响 体内和体外的病假天数和抗生素使用情况 细胞免疫指标。这项研究将试图测试 维生素E干预对临床和免疫学的影响 终结点，在弱势长期疗养院居民的人口中。 这些结果旨在提供基本的和应用的洞察 涉及的机制，要实现的目标，以及加强 干预并增强其影响力。

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from the Applicant's Abstract): Infections in general, and respiratory infections (RI) in particular, are highly prevalent in nursing homes, and are one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in the elderly. The increased incidence of infections in the elderly is multifactorial. A major contributing factor, however, is the well-described decline in cellular and humoral immunity with age. Higher mortality and morbidity, as well as a lesser degree of self-sufficiency, have been reported in elderly people with impaired immune response. The applicants have shown that short- and long-term supplementation with vitamin E significantly improves immune response in elderly humans. Furthermore, preliminary results appear to show that vitamin E-supplemented older individuals had a 30% lower incidence of self-reported infectious diseases compared to a placebo group. Old mice supplemented with vitamin E also have lower lung viral titer following influenza infection compared to old mice consuming an adequate level of vitamin E. It is therefore hypothesized, in this application, that supplementation with vitamin E will enhance the immune response of elderly individuals residing in long-term care facilities; and that this, in turn, will reduce the incidence and severity of RI, which should result in a lower number of sick days and less antibiotic use. The Specific Aims of the project are to determine the effect of one year of vitamin E supplementation on the incidence of RI, total number of sick days and antibiotic use, and in vivo and in vitro indices of cell-mediated immunity. The study will attempt to test the impact of a vitamin E intervention, using clinical and immunological endpoints, in a population of vulnerable long-term nursing home residents. The results are intended to provide basic and applied insight into the mechanisms involved, the goals to be realized, and ways to sharpen the intervention and enhance its impact.