Identification of acutely sick people and facial cues of sickness

Axelsson, JohnStockholms universitet,Stressforskningsinstitutet,Karolinska Institutet, Sweden (author)

Detection and avoidance of sick individuals have been proposed as essential components in a behavioural defence against disease, limiting the risk of contamination. However, almost no knowledge exists on whether humans can detect sick individuals, and if so by what cues. Here, we demonstrate that untrained people can identify sick individuals above chance level by looking at facial photos taken 2 h after injection with a bacterial stimulus inducing an immune response (2.0 ng kg-1 lipopolysaccharide) or placebo, the global sensitivity index being d' = 0.405. Signal detection analysis (receiver operating characteristic curve area) showed an area of 0.62 (95% confidence intervals 0.60-0.63). Acutely sick people were rated by naive observers as having paler lips and skin, a more swollen face, droopier corners of the mouth, more hanging eyelids, redder eyes, and less glossy and patchy skin, as well as appearing more tired. Our findings suggest that facial cues associated with the skin, mouth and eyes can aid in the detection of acutely sick and potentially contagious people.

Sundelin, TinaKarolinska Institutet (author)
Olsson, Mats J.Karolinska Institutet (author)
Sorjonen, KimmoKarolinska Institutet (author)
Axelsson, Charlotte (author)
Lasselin, JulieStockholms universitet,Stressforskningsinstitutet,Karolinska Institutet, Sweden; Universitätsklinikum Essen, Germany(Swepub:su)jlass (author)
Lekander, MatsStockholms universitet,Stressforskningsinstitutet,Karolinska Institutet, Sweden(Swepub:su)mleka (author)
Stockholms universitetStressforskningsinstitutet (creator_code:org_t)

In:Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences: The Royal Society285:18700962-84521471-2954

By the author/editor: Axelsson, John; Sundelin, Tina; Olsson, Mats J.; Sorjonen, Kimmo; Axelsson, Charlo ...; Lasselin, Julie; show more...; Lekander, Mats; show less...

About the subject

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES: MEDICAL AND HEAL ...; and Basic Medicine; and Neurosciences

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES: MEDICAL AND HEAL ...; and Health Sciences; and Public Health Gl ...

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