Negative affect relates to cross-sectional but not longitudinal symptom reporting: data from elderly adults.

ABSTRACT

To test hypotheses about the relationship between negative affect and symptom reports, symptom reports of 4 groups of elderly participants (N = 76; mean age = 73.5 years) were compared those high on measures of both depression and anxiety, those high on one measure and low on the other, and those low on both measures. Symptom reports were obtained before and after 3 simultaneously given active inoculations (influenza; tetanus toxoid; and keyhole limpet hemocyanin, a neoantigen) and 3 similarly given placebo injections. Cross-sectional analyses replicated associations between negative affect and reports of elevated systemic (flulike) symptoms. Local symptoms (sore arm and redness at injection site) increased significantly from before to after active inoculations. Reports of systemic symptoms declined from before to after for both active and placebo inoculations regardless of affect groups. The results add to previous research showing that negative affect is related to cross-sectional symptom reporting but not to increases in symptom reporting from before to after a symptom-producing inoculation procedure.