Trial reportProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2012
Chronic stress, glucocorticoid receptor resistance, inflammation, and disease risk.
Trial report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 3 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 618 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Pilot Study Aimed to Determine the Optimal Design for the UCLA/Danone Probiotic Intervention Study Related to Stress
The Grounded Brain: How Sleeping Grounded (Earthing) Affects Cognition and Personal Perceptions in Participants With Mild Cognitive Impairment Due to Alzheimer's Disease (MCI/AD)
Desloratadine to Prevent Taxane-induced Peripheral Neuropathy in Patients With Breast Cancer (DETOXp)
Who cites it
618 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 1,348 citations in OpenAlex.
- Procrastination, stress, and self-rated health: A multi-sample meta-analysis.British journal of health psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Self-compassion and psychological distress in chronic illness: A meta-analysis.British journal of health psychology · 2025Pooled it
- COVID-19 risk, course and outcome in people with mental disorders: a systematic review and meta-analyses.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Trial
- Trial
- Oxytocin as regulator of stress and inflammation in aging.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2026Review
- Pain mediates the association between psychological distress and increases in inflammation in middle-aged and older rural adults: A longitudinal cohort study.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Positive association between sex hormones and inflammatory cytokines in trauma-exposed premenopausal women.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- The dual role of arginine vasopressin in immune regulation: Balancing immunostimulation and immunosuppression.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Review
- Food insecurity is associated with COPD prevalence and mortality: evidence from U.S. county-level data.Annals of the American Thoracic Society · 2026Article
- Advances in salivary cortisol monitoring for healthcare applications.RSC advances · 2026Review
- Stressful exposure from the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami drives long-term changes in thyroid hormone physiology.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Allostatic and Circadian Drives in Patients with Bipolar Disorder in Depressive Episodes or with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Versus Healthy Controls: Neuroendocrine Comparison Through Cortisol and 6-Sulfatoxymelatonin Overnight Urine Excretion.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Stress biology and metabolic ageing in older adults during prolonged crises: Ukraine as an example.Biogerontology · 2026Review
- Comorbidities and Inflammation: How Chronic Diseases Prime the Host Response in Sepsis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Biomolecular Pathways Linking Preoperative Chronic Stress to Postoperative Cardiovascular Dysfunction in Noncardiac Surgery.Biomolecules · 2026Review
- Blunted Cortisol Awakening Response in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Cross-Sectional Case-Control Study.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Chronic stress, social support, and domain-specific cognitive decline in HABS-HD.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Psychological Determinants of the Weight Cycle: A Review of Perceived Stress and Self-Efficacy.Current obesity reports · 2026Review
- The lung-brain axis in neurodegeneration: inflammatory, immune, and vascular mechanisms with therapeutic implications.Inflammopharmacology · 2026Review
558 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
We propose a model wherein chronic stress results in glucocorticoid receptor resistance (GCR) that, in turn, results in failure to down-regulate inflammatory response. Here we test the model in two viral-challenge studies. In study 1, we assessed stressful life events, GCR, and control variables including baseline antibody to the challenge virus, age, body mass index (BMI), season, race, sex, education, and virus type in 276 healthy adult volunteers. The volunteers were subsequently quarantined, exposed to one of two rhinoviruses, and followed for 5 d with nasal washes for viral isolation and assessment of signs/symptoms of a common cold. In study 2, we assessed the same control variables and GCR in 79 subjects who were subsequently exposed to a rhinovirus and monitored at baseline and for 5 d after viral challenge for the production of local (in nasal secretions) proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-6). Study 1: After covarying the control variables, those with recent exposure to a long-term threatening stressful experience demonstrated GCR; and those with GCR were at higher risk of subsequently developing a cold. Study 2: With the same controls used in study 1, greater GCR predicted the production of more local proinflammatory cytokines among infected subjects. These data provide support for a model suggesting that prolonged stressors result in GCR, which, in turn, interferes with appropriate regulation of inflammation. Because inflammation plays an important role in the onset and progression of a wide range of diseases, this model may have broad implications for understanding the role of stress in health.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.