Personality Pathways to Mortality: Interleukin-6 Links Conscientiousness to Mortality Risk

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Brain Behav Immun
• Personal Author:
  O’Súilleabháin, Páraic S. ; Turiano, Nicholas A. ; Gerstorf, Denis ; Luchetti, Martina ; Gallagher, Stephen ; Sesker, Amanda A. ; Terracciano, Antonio ; Sutin, Angelina R.
• Description:
  Personality is associated consistently with mortality hazards, but the physiological pathways are not yet clear. Immune system dysregulation may be one such pathway due to its role in age-related morbidity and mortality. In this preregistered study, we tested whether interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP) mediated the associations between personality traits and mortality hazards. The sample included 957 participants (M ± SD = 58.65 ± 11.51 years; range = 35-86 years) from the Midlife in the United States Survey that had 14 years of follow-up. Higher conscientiousness was associated with lower mortality hazards, with each one standard deviation higher conscientiousness associated with a 35% lower mortality risk. IL-6, but not CRP, partially mediated this association, with IL-6 accounting for 18% of this association in the fully adjusted model. While there was initial evidence that the biomarkers mediated both neuroticism and agreeableness and mortality risk, the indirect effects were not significant when controlling for the sociodemographic variables. Taken together, higher conscientiousness may lead to a longer life partially as a result of lower IL-6. This work highlights the importance of biological pathways that link personality to future mortality risk.
• Subjects:
  Adult Aged Aged, 80 And Over C-Reactive Protein Humans Interleukin-6 Middle Aged Mortality Neuroticism Personality Personality Inventory United States

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• Keywords:
  Alzheimer's Disease Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project Antiviral Agents Big Five C-reactive Protein Conscientiousness Five Factor Model Of Personality Herpes Simplex Human Papillomavirus Immunity Inflammation Interleukin-6 Mortality Neuroticism Personality Torque Teno Viruses Whole Exome Sequencing Whole Genome Sequencing

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• Source:
  Brain Behav Immun. 93:238-244
• Pubmed ID:
  33571630
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC7979517
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  R01 AG068093/AG/NIA NIH HHSUnited States/ ; R01 AG053297/AG/NIA NIH HHSUnited States/ ; UL1 TR001409/TR/NCATS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; UL1 RR025011/RR/NCRR NIH HHSUnited States/ ; U48 DP005004/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHSUnited States/ ; UL1 TR001881/TR/NCATS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; UL1 TR002373/TR/NCATS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; P01 AG020166/AG/NIA NIH HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  93
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:9334c74f1fae892cf24ba9c64196726b48c5fd9c49c6db79c2e41ca97e1f3941c8e16a6d8f31999eaee0fabbef69f7d904b30118aaa2b9c34fbc9f5c1de6c8cf
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/158042/cdc_158042_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 350.59 KB ]