Scientists link immune response to psychological state

A team of scientists from the Flanders’ life sciences research institute (VIB), the University of Leuven (KU Leuven) and the Leuven University Hospital have discovered a connection between psychological wellbeing and the immune system.

Their findings, published by the BMJ journal Gut, are based on a massive water contamination incident from 2010. In December of that year, contaminated drinking water led to bacterial infections among more than 18,000 residents of the neighbouring towns of Schelle and Hemiksem in Antwerp province.

During the outbreak, VIB and KU Leuven set up a task force to study the long-term effects of the incident. This was, for the scientists, an accidental experiment on a scale rarely possible in medical research. By following the patients from the initial contamination to a year after the outbreak, they were able to examine the factors that influenced long-term medical complications.

The researchers found that people who reported higher levels of anxiety or depression before the water contamination developed more severe gastrointestinal infections afterwards. In addition, these same people also had an increased risk of developing irritable bowel syndrome, with abdominal cramps, diarrhoea or constipation still a year after the initial contamination.

According to immunology professor Adrian Liston, the study shows that health, society and economics are interrelated and that ignoring depression and anxiety can result in higher long-term medical costs.

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