Interactions Between Caregiving and Sex and the Antibody Response to COVID-19 Vaccination

Stephen Gallagher, Ruth Ryan, Irene Cassidy, Wenyi Tang, Anna C. Whittaker

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Objective: Antibody response to vaccination is a powerful paradigm for studying the effects of chronic stress on immune function. In the present study, we used this paradigm to examine the interaction between caregiving (as a type of chronic stress) and sex on the antibody response to a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccination; recent research has called for examination of sex differences on health outcomes among family caregivers. A three-way interaction between caregiving, sex, and psychological distress was also examined. Methods: COVID-19 antibody data were extracted from 165 caregivers (98 females) and 386 non-caregivers (244 females) from the UK’s Understanding Society COVID-19 study. Relevant sociodemographics, health and lifestyle, and distress variables were gathered as potential covariates. Results: In a 2 2 ANOVA, we found that the interaction between caregiving and sex was significant; male caregivers had a lower antibody response to the vaccine compared to female caregivers (F(1,547), =24.82, p < .001, η2p = 0.043). Following adjustment, male caregivers had the lowest antibody response relative to all other groups. The three-way interaction model, controlling for covariates, was also significant (R2 = 0.013, p = .049); the conditional effects for the three-way interaction revealed that male caregivers, compared to the other groups, had a lower antibody response at both low and medium levels of psychological distress. Conclusion: This study found evidence of a three-way interaction between caregiving, sex, and distress on antibody response. Male caregivers had poorer antibody response to a single shot of the COVID-19 vaccination than female caregivers and male and female non-caregivers, and this was evident at low and medium levels of distress. Our findings will be discussed in relation to the caregiver and sex interactions during the pandemic.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)633-639
Number of pages7
JournalPsychosomatic Medicine
Volume86
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sep 2024
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • antibody response
  • caregiving
  • gender
  • psychological distress
  • sex

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