Ashworth Laboratories, Institute of Immunology & Infection Research, University of Edinburgh, King's Buildings, Charlotte Auerbach Road, Edinburgh EH9 3FL, UK.
Ashworth Laboratories, NIHR Global Health Research Unit Tackling Infections to Benefit Africa (TIBA), University of Edinburgh, King's Buildings, Charlotte Auerbach Road, Edinburgh EH9 3FL, UK.
Parasitology. 2022 Jul;149(8):1003-1018. doi: 10.1017/S0031182022000166. Epub 2022 Feb 14.
A growing body of research implicates inflammation as a potential pathway in the aetiology and pathophysiology of some mental illnesses. A systematic review was conducted to determine the association between parasitic infection and mental illnesses in humans in Africa and reviewed the state of the evidence available. The search focused on publications from Africa documenting the relationship between parasites from two parasite groups, helminths and protozoans, and four classifications of mental illness: mood affective disorders, neurotic and stress-related disorders, schizotypal disorders and unspecified mental illnesses. In the 26 reviewed papers, the prevalence of mental illness was significantly higher in people with parasitic infection compared to those without infection, i.e., 58.2% 41.8% ( < 0.001). An overall odds ratio found that the association of having a mental illness when testing positive for a parasitic infection was four times that of people without infection. Whilst the study showed significant associations between parasite infection and mental illness, it also highlights gaps in the present literature on the pathophysiology of mental illness in people exposed to parasite infection. This study highlighted the importance of an integrated intervention for parasitic infection and mental illness.
越来越多的研究表明，炎症可能是某些精神疾病的病因和发病机制的潜在途径。本系统评价旨在确定非洲人群寄生虫感染与精神疾病之间的关联，并回顾现有证据的状况。检索重点是记录来自非洲的出版物，这些出版物记录了两组寄生虫（蠕虫和原生动物）与四种精神疾病分类（心境情感障碍、神经质和应激相关障碍、精神分裂症样障碍和未特指的精神疾病）之间的关系。在审查的 26 篇论文中，患有寄生虫感染的人群中精神疾病的患病率明显高于未感染人群，即 58.2%比 41.8%（<0.001）。总体优势比发现，寄生虫感染阳性的人患精神疾病的关联是未感染者的四倍。虽然该研究表明寄生虫感染与精神疾病之间存在显著关联，但它也突出了目前关于寄生虫感染人群精神疾病发病机制的文献中的空白。本研究强调了针对寄生虫感染和精神疾病进行综合干预的重要性。
