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Positive affective states are associated with favorable health outcomes, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. The authors assessed associations between positive affect, cortisol sampled over the day, and inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein and interleukin-6) among 2,873 healthy members of the Whitehall II study. Data for this study were collected in 2002-2004 in London, United Kingdom. Saliva free cortisol was assessed on waking, 30 minutes later, and four times over the day and evening. Positive affect was indexed by aggregating ecological momentary assessments of positive mood over the day. Salivary cortisol averaged over the day was inversely associated with positive affect after controlling for age, gender, income, ethnicity, body mass index, waist/hip ratio, smoking, paid employment, time of waking in the morning, and depression (p ¼ 0.003). There was no association with cortisol responses to waking. The adjusted odds of C-reactive protein 3.00 mg/liter was 1.89 (95% confidence interval: 1.08, 3.31) in low-compared with high-positive-affect women, and plasma interleukin-6 was also inversely related to positive affect in women (p ¼ 0.016). Neither inflammatory marker was related to positive affect in men. These results confirm findings from smaller studies relating cortisol with positive affect while suggesting that in women, positive affect is associated with reduced levels of inflammatory markers. adrenal cortex hormones; affect; C-reactive protein; happiness; interleukin-6 Abbreviations: CES-D, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression; CRP, C-reactive protein; IL-6, interleukin-6; SD, standard deviation.Positive affective states and positive well-being are associated with reduced risk of physical disease and prolonged healthy life expectancy (1). Associations have been described between positive psychological states and greater longevity, reduced risk of death due to stroke and coronary heart disease, and delayed onset of disability and hypertension (2-8), stimulating the search for mediating biologic and behavioral pathways.Direct associations with neuroendocrine, inflammatory, and immune processes may be present. Positive affect has been shown to predict reduced risk of upper respiratory infectious illness following experimentally administered virus (9) and greater antibody responses to hepatitis B vaccination (10). In an earlier study with a subsample from the Whitehall II cohort (n ¼ 216), we assessed positive affect by aggregating ecological momentary assessments of positive affect over a working day and evening (11). Positive affect was associated with lower salivary free cortisol over the working day independently of age, gender, socioeconomic status, smoking, body mass index, and negative affect. Similar findings were observed over a weekend day, and effects were replicated at 3-year follow-up (12). Positive affect was also related to reduced fibrinogen responses to acute mental stress. These cortisol differences have been observed in Correspondence to Dr.

In healthy, older participants without history or objective signs of CHD, heightened cortisol reactivity is associated with a greater extent of CAC. These data support the notion that heightened hypothalamic pituitary adrenal activity is a risk factor for CHD.

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Positive affect is associated with longevity and favourable physiological function. We tested the hypothesis that positive affect is related to health‐protective psychosocial characteristics independently of negative affect and socio‐economic status. Both positive and negative affect were measured by aggregating momentary samples collected repeatedly over 1 day, and health‐related psychosocial factors were assessed by questionnaire in a sample of 716 men and women aged 58–72 years. Positive affect was associated with greater social connectedness, emotional and practical support, optimism and adaptive coping responses, and lower depression, independently of age, gender, household income, paid employment, smoking status, and negative affect. Negative affect was independently associated with negative relationships, greater exposure to chronic stress, depressed mood, pessimism, and avoidant coping. Positive affect may be beneficial for health outcomes in part because it is a component of a profile of protective psychosocial characteristics.

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Background: Evidence suggests that people who are more responsive to psychological stress are at an increased risk of developing obesity. However, the biological mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are poorly understood. The cytokines leptin, interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) play a key role in fat metabolism and abnormal circulating levels of these proteins have been reported in obese people and in individuals subject to stress. Objective: This study investigated whether cytokine responses to acute mental stress are associated with adiposity in healthy young women. Design and Subjects: A laboratory study of 67 women, aged 18-25 years, recruited from University College London. Measurements: Height, weight and waist circumference were measured and body fat mass was estimated by bioelectrical impedance body composition analysis. Laboratory mental stress testing was carried out and blood pressure and heart rate were recorded at baseline, during two moderately challenging tasks (Stroop and speech) and during recovery 40-45 min post-stress. Blood samples taken at baseline, immediately post-stress and 45 min post-stress, were used for assessment of circulating cytokines. Saliva samples taken throughout the session were assessed for cortisol. Results: Women who had larger cytokine responses to stress were more abdominally obese than women with smaller cytokine stress responses. Specifically, there was a positive correlation between waist circumference and stress-induced increases in plasma levels of leptin (r ¼ 0.35, Po0.05) and IL-1Ra responses (r ¼ 0.29, Po0.05). There was also a significant positive correlation between prolonged diastolic blood pressure responses to stress and measures of total and abdominal obesity (r ¼ 0.28-0.33, Po0.05). Conclusion: Increased cytokine production could be a mechanism linking stress and abdominal obesity.

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