Pagheh Abdol Sattar, Talebian Adele Sadat, Nayeri Tooran, Esmaeili Ali Akbar, Rezaei Fatemeh, Nazar Eisa, Ziaee Masood
Infectious Diseases Research Center, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, P.O. Box: 9717853577, Iran.
Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Dezful University of Medical Sciences, Dezful, Iran.
BMC Infect Dis. 2025 Jan 2;25(1):2. doi: 10.1186/s12879-024-10405-0.
Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is the most successful obligate protozoan that can infect warm-blooded vertebrate hosts. Some researchers suggest that the presence of Toxoplasma cysts in the brain can lead to mental disorders. Bipolar disorder (BD) is one of the serious neuropsychiatric disorders. Several studies have shown a high seroprevalence of T. gondii in bipolar patients. Therefore, this study aims to determine the prevalence of this infection in patients with BD.
In this case-control study, anti-Toxoplasma immunoglobulin (Ig) G and IgM antibodies were measured in serum samples from 115 patients with BD and 115 subjects without this disorder from the general population using commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Demographic characteristics of the patient and control groups, information about T. gondii infection and BD, and their potential risk factors were analyzed. We utilized the Mann-Whitney U test for continuous variables, the chi-square test for categorical data, and multivariate logistic regression to assess T. gondii infection and BD, with significance set at P < 0.05.
Twenty-eight (24.34%) of 115 patients with BD and 10 (8.7%) of 115 controls had anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies. IgM antibodies against T. gondii were not reported to be positive in any participants. Furthermore, there was a statistically significant difference in the results [odds ratio (OR) = 2.89: 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.08-7.73. P = 0.03]. Within the study population, various factors were identified as significant risk factors for BD: sex (OR 8.10, 95% CI 3.16-20.75), age 20-50 (OR 5.11, 95% CI 1.81-14.45), age over 50 (OR 19.54, 95% CI 4.02-94.89), education level (OR 0.24, 95% CI 0.09-0.60), working status (non-employment, OR 4.12, 95% CI 1.65-10.30), and income (middle, OR 0.29, 95% CI 0.10-0.89; high, OR 0.12, 95% CI 0.01-0.77), all with P-values less than 0.05. In addition, in the group of patients, there was no statistically significant relationship between T. gondii infection with the type of bipolar disease (P = 0.93), the severity of the disease (P = 0.61), and the history of suicide attempts (P = 0.63).
This study showed that toxoplasmosis is a risk factor for BD and increases the chance of developing BD. However, more studies with a larger sample size are recommended to clarify the development pathways of this disorder and provide new strategies for the prevention and treatment of this disease.
Not applicable.
刚地弓形虫是最成功的专性原生动物，可感染温血脊椎动物宿主。一些研究人员认为，大脑中存在弓形虫囊肿会导致精神障碍。双相情感障碍（BD）是严重的神经精神疾病之一。多项研究表明，双相情感障碍患者中弓形虫血清阳性率较高。因此，本研究旨在确定双相情感障碍患者中这种感染的患病率。
在这项病例对照研究中，使用市售酶联免疫吸附试验检测了115例双相情感障碍患者和115名来自普通人群的非双相情感障碍受试者血清样本中的抗弓形虫免疫球蛋白（Ig）G和IgM抗体。分析了患者组和对照组的人口统计学特征、弓形虫感染和双相情感障碍的信息及其潜在危险因素。对于连续变量，我们使用Mann-Whitney U检验；对于分类数据，使用卡方检验；并使用多因素逻辑回归评估弓形虫感染与双相情感障碍，显著性设定为P < 0.05。
115例双相情感障碍患者中有28例（24.34%）和115名对照中有10例（8.7%）具有抗弓形虫IgG抗体。未报告任何参与者的抗弓形虫IgM抗体呈阳性。此外，结果存在统计学显著差异[比值比（OR）= 2.89：95%置信区间（CI）= 1.08 - 7.73，P = 0.03]。在研究人群中，各种因素被确定为双相情感障碍的显著危险因素：性别（OR 8.10，95% CI 3.16 - 20.75）、年龄20 - 50岁（OR 5.11，95% CI 1.81 - 14.45）、50岁以上（OR 19.54，95% CI 4.02 - 94.89）、教育水平（OR 0.24，95% CI 0.09 - 0.60）、工作状态（无业，OR 4.12，95% CI 1.65 - 10.30）和收入（中等，OR 0.29，95% CI 0.10 - 0.89；高，OR 0.12，95% CI 0.01 - 0.77），所有P值均小于0.05。此外，在患者组中，弓形虫感染与双相情感障碍的类型（P = 0.93）、疾病严重程度（P = 0.61）和自杀未遂史（P = 0.63）之间无统计学显著关系。
本研究表明，弓形虫病是双相情感障碍的一个危险因素，增加了患双相情感障碍的几率。然而，建议进行更多样本量更大的研究，以阐明这种疾病的发展途径，并为该病的预防和治疗提供新策略。
不适用。
