Mild depressive symptoms are associated with elevated C-reactive protein and proinflammatory cytokine levels during early to midgestation: a prospective pilot study.

BACKGROUND: We examined depressive symptoms, C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) levels during early to-midgestation. METHODS: We measured depressive symptoms on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and serum CRP, IL-6, and TNF-α levels twice in 27 pregnant women. RESULTS: After adjustment, depressive symptoms prospectively (ß=0.42, p<0.05 at 16-20 weeks of gestation) and concurrently (ß=0.54, p<0.01 at 7-10 weeks of gestation) predicted elevated CRP [F (2, 14)=9.20, p=0.003, R(2)=0.57 and F (3, 15)=9.08, p=0.001, R(2)=0.64, respectively]. There were similar patterns of results for TNF-α (ß=0.72, p<0.01) and IL-6 levels (ß=0.39, p<0.05) at 7-10 weeks of gestation [F (2,19)=8.84, p=0.002, R(2)=0.48]. Furthermore, the association between depressive symptoms at 7-10 weeks of gestation and increased IL-6 levels at 16-20 weeks of gestation approached statistical significance. We confirmed the findings with the Wilcoxon signed rank test (IL-6: Z=2.44, p=0.015; TNF-α: Z=1.94, p=0.05; CRP: approached statistical significance). CONCLUSIONS: These pilot data suggest that depressive symptoms may be associated with inflammatory markers during early to-midgestation.

Listening to the heart-brain talk: persistent depressive symptoms are associated with hsCRP in apparently healthy individuals at high risk for coronary artery disease.

BACKGROUND: This study examined whether mild-to-moderate depressive symptoms are associated with increased high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) levels in apparently healthy individuals at high risk for coronary artery disease. We investigated in individuals whether: (1) current depressive symptoms were associated with increased hsCRP and IL-6 levels; (2) persistent depressive symptoms at two time points 6 months apart were associated with hsCRP and IL-6; and (3), sex-based differences in inflammation were a function of depressive symptoms. METHODS: We measured depressive symptoms (twice), hsCRP, and IL-6 (follow-up time point) in 84 apparently healthy individuals (52% women) at high cardiac risk. RESULTS: Patients with persistent depressive symptoms had higher hsCRP, compared to participants without persistent symptoms (5.55 vs. 1.70 mg/l, p < 0.05, 95% CI 0.11 to 1.09, d = 0.67). Participants with current depressive symptoms had higher hsCRP (3.99 vs. 1.70 mg/l, p = 0.059) than those without symptoms. Findings remained unchanged after controlling for covariates. Women had higher adjusted hsCRP than men (2.91 vs. 1.87 mg/l, p < 0.001). When we entered depressive symptoms, the model remained significant, with a significant interaction between sex and symptoms: women with depressive symptoms had higher hsCRP than men with depressive symptoms and than women without symptoms (6.75 vs. 1.11 mg/l). The hypothesized differences were not observed with respect to IL-6, after controlling for body mass index (95% CI-0.77 to 0.73). CONCLUSIONS: Before a first ischaemic coronary event, persistent mild-to-moderate depressive symptoms were associated with increased hsCRP. Women with depressive symptoms had higher hsCRP than men with symptoms.

Elevated salivary C-reactive protein levels are associated with active and passive smoking in healthy youth: A pilot study.

BACKGROUND: We examined salivary C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in the context of tobacco smoke exposure (TSE) in healthy youth. We hypothesized that there would be a dose-response relationship between TSE status and salivary CRP levels. METHODS: This work is a pilot study (N = 45) for a larger investigation in which we aim to validate salivary CRP against serum CRP, the gold standard measurement of low-grade inflammation. Participants were healthy youth with no self-reported periodontal disease, no objectively measured obesity/adiposity, and no clinical depression, based on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). We assessed tobacco smoking and confirmed smoking status (non-smoking, passive smoking, and active smoking) with salivary cotinine measurement. We measured salivary CRP by the ELISA method. We controlled for several potential confounders. RESULTS: We found evidence for the existence of a dose-response relationship between the TSE status and salivary CRP levels. CONCLUSIONS: Our preliminary findings indicate that salivary CRP seems to have a similar relation to TSE as its widely used serum (systemic inflammatory) biomarker counterpart.

Prenatal tobacco exposure and cortisol levels in infants of teen mothers.

AIMS: prenatal tobacco exposure (PTE) is an important public health concern for the offspring of teen mothers. We examined whether PTE is associated with baseline cortisol levels in four-month-old infants of teenage mothers. METHODS: we assessed salivary cortisol levels of 212 infants. PTE was measured by using self-reports of cigarette smoking during pregnancy. We used a propensity scores matching analysis to compare infants with PTE and those without. RESULTS: of 212 mothers, 151 smoked during pregnancy. However, there was no association between PTE and infant cortisol levels. CONCLUSIONS: we could not support a relation between PTE and cortisol levels in a sample of four-month-old infants of teenage mothers.