Table 1

Summary of the effects of adverse life events and acute experimental stress on systemic immune and inflammatory function in humans

Stress	No of subjects	Effect	Reference
TSST, Trier social stress test; MAT, mental arithmetic test; Stroop, word-colour interference test; HV, healthy volunteers; NK, natural killer; LPS, lipopolysaccharide; IL, interleukin; TNF-α, tumour necrosis factor α; IFN-γ, interferon γ; PLA, platelet-leucocyte aggregate; PBMC, peripheral blood mononuclear cell.
Stressful life events
Bereavement	20 000 widows and widowers	Increased mortality	Lusyne⁵⁸
Bereavement	37 widows	Decreased NK and cytotoxic T cell activity	Irwin²⁴
Major depression	36 HV	Reduced NK cell number	Frank²⁵
Major depression	46 depressed patients and 46 HV	Reduced NK cell activity	Chu²⁶
Geriatric depression	166 depressed patients	Reduced CD4 and CD8 lymphocytes	Fortes²⁷
Adolescent depression	36 depressed and 36 HV	Reduced NK cell number	Schleifer²⁸
Academic examinations	64 adolescents	Reduced lymphocyte proliferation and neutrophil production of superoxides	Kang⁵⁹
Academic examinations	38 HV	Increased TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-6 production by LPS >stimulated whole blood	Maes⁴⁰
Acute experimental stress
TSST	32 HV	Increased IL-6 production by LPS stimulated >whole blood	Goebel⁴¹
TSST	25 HV	Increased IL-1β and TNF-α production by LPS >stimulated whole blood	Ackerman⁴²
TSST	15 HV	Increased IFN-γ and IL-10 production by PBMC	Jacobs⁴³
Stroop	13 HV	Increased serum IL-6 levels	Steptoe⁴⁴
TSST	30 HV	Increased CD8 lymphocytes and NK cells	Marsland³¹
TSST, MAT	15 atopic dermatitis, 15 HV	Increased CD8 and NK cells	Schmid-Ott⁴⁵
TSST	15 HV	Increased NK cells	Pawlak⁵⁷
MAT	23 HV	Increased NK cell number and lytic activity	Pike³⁴
Dichotomous listening test	20 quiescent UC	Increased leucocyte count and NK cell number	Mawdsley⁴⁷
Stroop	11 HV under 35	Increased thrombin induced platelet fibrinognen binding	Wallen⁴⁹
MAT	12 HV	Increased platelet dependent thrombin generation	Kawano⁵⁴
Stroop	40 HV	Increased platelet dependent ATP secretion	Malkoff⁵⁰
Stroop	8 HV	Increased platelet dependent beta-thromboglobulin and serotonin secretion	Naesh⁴⁸
Stroop	37 HV	Increased PLA formation	Steptoe⁵⁵
Dichotomous listening test	20 quiescent UC	Increased platelet activation and PLA formation	Mawdsley ⁵¹