Poster Session 6, 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM: Room 165 [D9]

The Relationship Between Autoimmune Disease and Psychological Stress

Presenter: Kaycie Koenig

Faculty Sponsor: Achsah Dorsey

School: UMass Amherst

Research Area: Biology

ABSTRACT

Psychological stress is a significant risk factor not only for the development but also the exacerbation of autoimmune disease (AD). While the exact mechanisms for this relationship are unknown, chronic stress suppresses immune function due to prolonged exposure to elevated cortisol levels and increased inflammation.  Biological sex, gender, age, and lifestyle habits all influence AD onset and symptom severity. My project investigates the relationship between psychosocial stress and AD in a longitudinal study. I followed a cohort of 25 participants, all of whom had been diagnosed with at least one AD, for 14 weeks. Each week, participants responded to online questionnaires about their perceived psychological stress, autoimmune symptom severity, diet, and exercise habits. I assessed stress via the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and symptom severity via a Likert scale (0 to 5) for 20 common AD symptoms. Preliminary data suggest that reported psychological stress is associated with more severe AD symptoms (rho: 0.24, p-value: 0.05). Participants with a dermatologic AD (e.g., Psoriasis and Vitiligo) had the strongest correlation between psychological stress and symptom severity, and those with gastrointestinal AD disease (e.g., Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis) had the weakest correlation. Although the cohort size in this study was small, my findings demonstrate that the association between stress and symptom severity differs depending on the type of AD. This work contributes to the growing literature on psychological stress and autoimmunity.

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