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People who sleep less may be less
likely to benefit from a vaccine, new research suggests.
In the observational study, 125
healthy adults underwent vaccination against hepatitis B virus: two doses one
month apart, followed six months later by a booster. During the seven-day
period surrounding each injection, participants wore devices to monitor their sleep
and kept sleep diaries. After the second and third shots, scientists measured
the levels of HBV antibodies in the subjects’ blood.
After adjusting for other factors
that affect antibody response, the team found that sleep duration, as measured
by the monitoring devices, predicted the blood level of HBV antibodies
following the second injection. Sleep duration also predicted the likelihood of
sufficient HBV antibody levels for clinical protection after the booster.
The effect was modest, said lead
author Aric A. Prather, a University of California-San Francisco clinical
health psychologist. “The vaccine works for almost everyone, irrespective of
their sleep, and there’s no evidence that changing your sleep pattern improves
vaccination response,” he said. “What was most surprising to us was that
shorter sleep duration predicted a person’s likelihood of being protected six
months later.”
The authors wrote in their
conclusion, “Short sleep duration in the natural environment may negatively
affect in vivo antibody responses to novel antigens, providing a possible
explanation for observed associations of poor sleep with increased
susceptibility to infectious disease.” The study, “Sleep and Antibody Response
to Hepatitis B Vaccination,” was published in Sleep (2012;35(8):1063-1069).
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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