Background Psychosocial stress exposure can disturb communication signals between the immune, nervous, and endocrine systems that are intended to maintain homeostasis. This dysregulation can provoke a negative feedback loop between each system that has high pathological risk. Here, we explore patterns of immune-neuroendocrine activity and the role of stress.

Methods Using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), we first identified the latent structure of immune-neuroendocrine activity (indexed by high sensitivity C-reactive protein [CRP], fibrinogen [Fb], hair cortisol [cortisol], and insulin growth-factor-1 [IGF-1]), within a population-based cohort using latent profile analysis (LPA). Then, we determined whether life stress was associated with membership of different immune-neuroendocrine profiles. We followed 4,934 male and female participants, with a median age of 65 years, over a four-year period (2008–2012).

Results A three-class LPA solution offered the most parsimonious fit to the underlying immune-neuroendocrine structure in the data, with 36 %, 40 %, and 24 % of the population belonging to profiles 1 (low-risk), 2 (moderate-risk), and 3 (high-risk), respectively. After adjustment for genetic predisposition, sociodemographics, lifestyle, and health, higher exposure to stress was associated with a 61 % greater risk of belonging to the high-risk profile (RRR: 1.61; 95 %CI = 1.23–2.12, p = 0.001), but not the moderate-risk profile (RRR = 1.10, 95 %CI = 0.89–1.35, p = 0.401), as compared with the low-risk profile four years later.

Conclusion Our findings extend existing knowledge on psychoneuroimmunological processes, by revealing how inflammation and neuroendocrine activity cluster in a representative sample of older adults, and how stress exposure was associated with immune-neuroendocrine responses over time.