Abstract

Aims: NK Cell is a part of innate immunity and their quantity is important to diagnosis process and defense against many diseases. Correlation between psychosocial and immunological factors is studied in psychoneuroimmunology. This article aims to study relation between NK Cells' quantity and mental health of mustard gas respiratory injured veterans. Method: This is a descriptive- correlational study on 41 mustard gas respiratory injured veterans who were selected by randomized available sampling. We used Flow Cytometry for NK cell counting and to assess patients' mental health General Health Questionnaire (GHQ28) was utilized. Data got analyzed by Pearson's correlation and one-sample T-test. Results: Mean percent of the Nk cells in peripheral blood was 4.93 which is significantly less than Iranian healthy men (15.93) reported in previous studies (t=-20.03,p0.01). Pearson's correlation coefficient showed significant negative correlation between NK Cells' quantity with total score of GHQ, physical subscore and anxiety sub-score (?=-0.33 and p0.05). Conclusion: Mean percent of Nk cells' quantity in peripheral blood of mustard gas respiratory injured veterans is significantly less than Iranian healthy men. Furthermore, there is significant negative correlation between NK Cells' count and total score of GHQ, physical and anxiety sub-score. This means when mental health status and physical symptoms and anxiety get worse, the percentage of NK cells in peripheral blood declines.