Birur Badari, Amrock Ellen M, Shelton Richard C, Li Li
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States.
Front Psychiatry. 2017 Jun 16;8:108. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2017.00108. eCollection 2017.
Females are twice as likely as males to experience depression. Recent findings indicate a relationship linking inflammation with depression. Whether the higher prevalence of depression in women is sex-specific or if inflammation contributes to a higher prevalence of depression in females is unclear. Thus, the objective was to determine whether depressed females show higher inflammation compared to males in a cross-sectional study.
Two hundred participants were enrolled. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), and blood samples were collected from all participants to measure inflammatory blood markers.
Higher rates of suicidal thoughts, pessimism, and lassitude measured by the MADRS were seen in depressed females compared with depressed males. Among all inflammatory markers measured, there were no significant differences in depressed males vs. male controls. Increased levels of interleukin (IL)-8, interferon-γ, and leptin, and decreased levels of IL-5 and adiponectin were observed in depressed females compared to female controls. Compared with depressed males, IL-6 and leptin levels were significantly elevated in depressed females after controlling for body mass index. Correlation analysis revealed that depression severity negatively correlated with IL-12 in males, and positively correlated with IL-1β and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in females. IL-1β and TNF-α correlated with suicidal thoughts, lassitude, and pessimism in depressed females.
Our findings indicate a sex-specific relationship between inflammation and depression, which may be important in identifying potential psychopathology and suggesting novel immunomodulatory treatments for depressed females.
女性患抑郁症的可能性是男性的两倍。最近的研究结果表明炎症与抑郁症之间存在关联。女性抑郁症患病率较高是性别特异性的，还是炎症导致女性抑郁症患病率较高尚不清楚。因此，本横断面研究的目的是确定抑郁女性与男性相比是否表现出更高的炎症水平。
招募了200名参与者。使用蒙哥马利-阿斯伯格抑郁评定量表（MADRS）评估抑郁症状，并采集所有参与者的血样以测量炎症血液标志物。
与抑郁男性相比，抑郁女性的MADRS测量的自杀念头、悲观情绪和倦怠发生率更高。在所有测量的炎症标志物中，抑郁男性与男性对照组之间没有显著差异。与女性对照组相比，抑郁女性的白细胞介素（IL）-8、干扰素-γ和瘦素水平升高，而IL-5和脂联素水平降低。在控制体重指数后，与抑郁男性相比，抑郁女性的IL-6和瘦素水平显著升高。相关性分析显示，男性抑郁严重程度与IL-12呈负相关，女性与IL-1β和肿瘤坏死因子（TNF）-α呈正相关。IL-1β和TNF-α与抑郁女性的自杀念头、倦怠和悲观情绪相关。
我们的研究结果表明炎症与抑郁症之间存在性别特异性关系，这可能对识别潜在的精神病理学以及为抑郁女性提出新的免疫调节治疗方法具有重要意义。
