A Grieving Heart: Does Feeling Burdensome to Others Impact Inflammatory Outcomes During Spousal Bereavement?

项目总结/摘要 丧失亲人的人发病和死亡的风险增加，特别是在头6个月内 失去配偶后。死亡率与心血管相关死亡严重失衡， 20%-53%的人在失去配偶后死亡。然而，研究人员缺乏对 心理社会方面可能有助于解释为什么一些失去亲人的人死于“心碎”， 其他人则没有。自我感觉负担（SPB）是一种心理压力源，是指对心理压力的影响的担忧。 一个人的照顾他人的需要，导致内疚，痛苦，责任感和自我意识的减弱。 心理社会压力促进促炎细胞因子的产生。炎症是所有阶段的核心， 心血管疾病（CVD）和我们的初步数据确定炎症作为一个潜在的机制 在死者家属中发现了潜在的心血管疾病此外，由于SPB是一种心理社会应激源，它可能会影响 通过促进全身炎症，从而损害心脏，降低了丧失亲人的心血管疾病风险。照经上所 重要的是要了解何时以及是否SPB在丧亲期间发展，以及它如何通过以下方式影响CVD风险： 炎症作为整体培训计划的一部分，拟议项目的具体目标是：（1）评估SPB作为一个 在丧亲之痛的第一年，在4个时间点上悲伤的功能;（2）评估炎症作为一种 在丧亲第一年的4个时间点上SPB的功能;（3）探讨SPB是否部分 在先前的悲伤和随后的炎症之间起着中介作用。与R 01项目同时进行 该项目由NHLBI资助，将在160名样本中检查悲伤症状、SPB和炎症 最近失去配偶的人。这些关联将被纵向研究， 在配偶去世后2个月、4个月、6个月和12个月收集的数据。这个项目正在 符合申请人的职业目标，追求一个独立的研究计划，旨在弥合 社会和健康心理学领域使用心理神经免疫学理论和测量。 为配合拟议项目而专门设计的培训活动将通过 结合正式课程，指导阅读，研讨会，实践培训，补助金 写作和研究活动。培训将主要在莱斯大学的生物科学研究中心进行 协作（BRC），一个创新的空间，科学家和教育工作者从莱斯大学及其 德克萨斯州医学中心（TMC）的邻居可以聚集在一起进行合作研究，以改善 人类健康通过科学。补充培训，特别是在心理神经免疫学，将发生 位于世界著名的MD安德森癌症中心，距离德克萨斯医疗中心的BRC仅几步之遥。

Project Summary/Abstract Bereaved individuals are at an increased risk for morbidity and mortality, particularly within the first 6 months after losing a spouse. Mortality rates are heavily imbalanced by cardiovascular-related deaths, which account for 20-53% of deaths following the loss of a spouse. However, researchers lack an understanding of the psychosocial aspects that may help explain why some bereaved individuals die of a “broken heart”, while others do not. Self-perceived burden (SPB), a psychosocial stressor, refers to a concern for the impact on others of one’s care needs resulting in guilt, distress, feelings of responsibility, and diminished sense of self. Psychosocial stressors promote proinflammatory cytokine production. Inflammation is central to all stages of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and our preliminary data identifies inflammation as a potential mechanism underlying CVD among the bereaved. Further, because SPB is a psychosocial stressor, it may impact bereaved individuals’ CVD risk by promoting systemic inflammation, thereby damaging the heart. Thus, it is important to understand when and if SPB develops during bereavement, and how it impacts CVD risk via inflammation. As part of the overall training plan, the proposed project specifically aims to: (1) assess SPB as a function of grief across 4 time points during the first year of bereavement; (2) assess inflammation as a function of SPB across 4 time points during the first year of bereavement; (3) explore whether SPB partially mediates the relationship between prior grief and subsequent inflammation. Concurrent with an R01 project funded by NHLBI, this project will examine grief symptoms, SPB, and inflammation among a sample of 160 bereaved individuals who recently lost their spouse. These associations will be examined longitudinally, with data collected at 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, and 12 months after the spouse’s passing. This project is in line with the applicant’s career goal of pursuing an independent program of research aimed at bridging the fields of social and health psychology using psychoneuroimmunological theory and measurement. Training activities specifically designed to coincide with the proposed project will be accomplished through a combination of formal coursework, mentorship with directed readings, workshops, hands-on training, grant writing, and research activities. The training will take place primarily at Rice University’s Bioscience Research Collaborative (BRC), an innovative space where scientists and educators from Rice University and its neighbors in the Texas Medical Center (TMC) can come together to conduct collaborative research to improve human health through science. Supplemental training, specifically in Psychoneuroimmunology, will take place at the world renown MD Anderson Cancer Center, just steps away from the BRC in the Texas Medical Center.