Peer-Reviewed Journal Details
Mandatory Fields
Stephen G.;Siobhán H.;Muldoon O.T.;Whittaker A.C.
2022
July
Brain, behavior, and immunity
Social cohesion and loneliness are associated with the antibody response to COVID-19 vaccination
Published
1 ()
Optional Fields
Antibody response COVID-19 Loneliness SARS-CoV-2 Social cohesion Stress
103
179
185
Background: Recent research has suggested that psychosocial factors influence the antibody response to vaccine, including SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) vaccines. Here we investigated whether social cohesion and loneliness were predictive of antibody response to a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. We also tested if the association between social cohesion and antibody response was mediated by feelings of loneliness. Methods: Participants (N = 676) COVID-19 antibody data were extracted from March 2021 wave of the Understanding Society COVID-19 study from the UK. Relevant socio-demographics, health and lifestyle, loneliness, social cohesion indices were also used in a series of hierarchical linear regression to test our main hypotheses. Results: After controlling for covariates (e.g., age and chronic health conditions), lower social cohesion was associated with a lower antibody response. Further, the association between social cohesion and poorer antibody responses was mediated by loneliness; those reporting lower social cohesion also reported higher loneliness, which in turn was associated with lower antibody response. Conclusion: This study confirms that feelings of `being in it together¿ relate to the strength of the antibody response to COVID-19 vaccination, emphasising the importance of the social cohesion agenda during the pandemic.
0889-1591
10.1016/j.bbi.2022.04.017
Grant Details