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. 2025 Sep;44(9):898-908.
doi: 10.1037/hea0001501. Epub 2025 Apr 21.

Attachment orientation and platelet activity

Joshua Landvatter  1 , Bert N Uchino  1 , Matthew Rondina  1
Affiliations

Attachment orientation and platelet activity

Joshua Landvatter et al. Health Psychol. 2025 Sep.

Abstract
in English, Spanish

Objective: The primary aim of this study was to determine if there is an existing link between attachment orientation and platelet activity. Second to this primary aim, was to explore moderating factors by which attachment may influence platelet activity, including trauma, age, and gender, given prior work.

Method: Regression analyses were used for the primary aims. Consistent with prior work on psychosocial processes and biological pathways, age, gender, ethnicity, and measures of body mass index were controlled for. The main effects of attachment orientation on platelet levels were examined.

Results: Both anxious (b = -0.25, SE = 0.07, p = .0004) and avoidant attachment (b = -0.27, SE = 0.08, p = .001) orientations were negatively related to levels of platelet activation when considering the standard control factors.

Conclusion: Whereas no significant moderation was found, our regression analyses indicated reliable main effects of attachment orientation on platelet activity. Importantly, our novel findings are in the same direction of similar research, demonstrating that acute versus chronic states of anxiety or stress may have distinctly different influences on levels of platelet activity. This is consequential, as this has different implications for the onset, development, and treatment of diseases linked to chronic states of anxiety or stress, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and stroke. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Objetivo:: El objetivo principal de este estudio fue determinar si existe una relación entre la orientación de apego y la actividad plaquetaria. Además de este objetivo principal, se buscó explorar los factores moderadores que influyen en la actividad plaquetaria, incluyendo traumatismos, edad y sexo, según estudios previos.

Métodos:: Se utilizaron análisis de regresión para nuestros objetivos principales. En consonancia con trabajos previos sobre procesos psicosociales y vías biológicas, se controlaron la edad, el sexo, la etnia y las medidas del índice de masa corporal. Se examinaron los principales efectos de la orientación del apego sobre los niveles de plaquetas.

Resultados:: Tanto la orientación ansiosa (b=−0.25, SE=0.07, p=.0004) como la orientación evitativa (b=−0.27, SE=0.08, p=.001) se relacionaron negativamente con los niveles de activación plaquetaria al considerar los factores de control estándar.

Conclusión:: Si bien no se encontró una moderación significativa, nuestros análisis de regresión indicaron efectos principales fiables de la orientación de apego sobre la actividad plaquetaria. Cabe destacar que nuestros nuevos hallazgos coinciden con investigaciones similares, demostrando que los estados agudos y crónicos de ansiedad o estrés pueden tener influencias muy diferentes en los niveles de actividad plaquetaria. Esto es importante, ya que tiene diferentes implicaciones para la aparición, el desarrollo y el tratamiento de enfermedades asociadas con estados crónicos de ansiedad o estrés, como las enfermedades cardiovasculares, el cáncer y los accidentes cerebrovasculares.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

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