Sex differences in executive functioning and latent herpesvirus reactivation among bereaved and nonbereaved individuals

Abstract

The death of a spouse is a highly stressful event. Better executive functioning has been shown to benefit men to a greater degree than women during stress. We evaluated potential sex differences in stress and immune dysregulation among control and bereaved participants who completed a self-report measure of perceived stress,

Relationship satisfaction determines the association between Epstein–Barr virus latency and somatic symptoms after the loss of a spouse

“…Further, when exploring the data, we found that the association between EBV antibody titers (i.e., EBV reactivation, an index of stress‐related immune dysregulation) and perceived somatic symptoms may differ by gender. In a related study, bereaved females demonstrated greater EBV antibody titers than bereaved males (Guevara et al, 2019). If our exploratory findings reflect a gender difference in the true population, this may suggest that although bereaved women have higher EBV antibody titers than men, men may be suffering from the consequences of those elevated titers in the form of somatic symptoms more so than women.…”

“…3 3 Researchers suggest relationship satisfaction may play a stronger role in influencing health among married women compared to men (Acitelli, 1992). In addition, bereaved females demonstrated greater EBV antibody titers than bereaved males, in a related study (Guevara et al, 2019). …”

“…Relationship dissolution (e.g., divorce/separation) is linked to higher EBV antibody titers among both men (Kiecolt‐Glaser et al, 1988) and women (Kiecolt‐Glaser et al, 1987). While others have identified factors that are associated with herpesvirus reactivation among bereaved individuals (Garcini et al, 2018; Guevara, Gilbert, Murdock, Stowe, & Fagundes, 2019), to our knowledge, no research exists on how EBV reactivation may influence somatic symptom complaints in this population.…”

Stress-Induced Epstein-Barr Virus Reactivation

“…Males had lower EBV antibody titers than females. This finding was correlated with higher male inhibition, or the ability to control and divert attention away from emotion in the presence of stressors [ 184 ]. Figure 3 contains a summary of factors involved in latency and reactivation.…”