Smith A, Thomas M, Kent J, Nicholson K
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, UK.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 1998 Oct;23(7):733-9. doi: 10.1016/s0306-4530(98)00042-0.
Previous research has shown that both experimentally-induced and naturally occurring upper respiratory tract illnesses (URTIs) influence mood and mental functioning. None of the previous studies of naturally occurring colds has conducted appropriate virological assays to determine the nature of the infecting agent. This is an essential methodological step in studies of malaise associated with URTIs. The aim of this research was to investigate the effects of naturally occurring colds on mood and objective measures of performance. This was done by first conducting a cross-sectional comparison of 37 healthy people and 158 volunteers with colds and then a longitudinal study in which 100 volunteers developed colds and 87 remained healthy. Virological techniques were used to identify infecting agents and comparisons made across the different groups. The results showed that having a cold was associated with reduced alertness and slowed reaction times. These effects were observed both for colds where the infecting virus was identified and those where it was not. Similar effects were obtained for both rhinovirus and coronavirus colds. One may conclude that upper respiratory tract illnesses lead to a reduction in subjective alertness and impaired psychomotor functioning. This was true for both illnesses where the infecting agent was identified and for those clinical illnesses where no virus was detected. It is now important to identify the mechanisms linking infection and illness with the behavioural changes. Similarly, the impact of these effects on real-life activities such as driving needs examining. Finally, methods of treatment need to be developed which not only treat the local symptoms of the illnesses but remove the negative mood and the performance impairments.
先前的研究表明，实验诱导的和自然发生的上呼吸道疾病（URTIs）都会影响情绪和心理功能。先前关于自然发生感冒的研究均未进行适当的病毒学检测以确定感染病原体的性质。这是与URTIs相关不适研究中至关重要的方法步骤。本研究的目的是调查自然发生的感冒对情绪和客观表现指标的影响。首先对37名健康人和158名感冒志愿者进行横断面比较，然后进行纵向研究，其中100名志愿者患感冒，87名保持健康。采用病毒学技术识别感染病原体，并对不同组进行比较。结果表明，感冒与警觉性降低和反应时间减慢有关。在已识别感染病毒的感冒和未识别感染病毒的感冒中均观察到了这些影响。鼻病毒感冒和冠状病毒感冒均获得了类似结果。可以得出结论，上呼吸道疾病会导致主观警觉性降低和心理运动功能受损。对于已识别感染病原体的疾病和未检测到病毒的临床疾病均是如此。现在重要的是确定将感染和疾病与行为变化联系起来的机制。同样，这些影响对诸如驾驶等现实生活活动的影响也需要研究。最后，需要开发不仅能治疗疾病局部症状，还能消除负面情绪和表现受损的治疗方法。
