The role of gender and labour status in immunosenescence of 65+ Polish population

Abstract

Women are living longer than men and it seems that one of the reasons could be better immune system of females. In Poland, contrary to many European countries, women retire earlier than men, namely at 60 and 65, respectively. We asked the question how the gender and labour status were interconnected with some immunological parameters included in the so called immune risk profile (IRP), such as CD4+/CD8+ ratio, percentage of CD8+CD28−, and NK, and the level of circulating cytokines. A total of 92 men and 100 women past the retirement age, namely 65–74 years old, still working or not, were examined. We have found statistically significant lower percentage of CD8+CD28− cells and non-statistically significant higher CD4+/CD8+ ratio in women, whereas the percentage of NK was higher in men. Moreover, the percentage of CD8+CD28− cells was negatively correlated with the CD4+/CD8+ ratio and the concentration of IL8 was positively correlated with the concentration of IL10 both in men and women. In men, the level of IL10 was higher than in women. Altogether, we found that gender, but not labour status, influences immunosenescence of the examined population of 65–74 years old Polish people.