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High CRP levels linked to distress, depression
Risk for psychological distress and depression may be higher among adults with elevated levels of CRP, researchers reported in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
"The main finding of this study consisted of an association of elevated CRP levels with an increased risk for psychological distress and depression in the general population," wrote Marie Kim Wium-Andersen, MD, of Herlev Hospital and Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark, and colleagues in the study.
In this cross-sectional analysis, researchers examined CRP levels of 73,131 participants aged 20 to 100 years from the Copenhagen General Population and Copenhagen City Heart Studies in Denmark.
Researchers found that high CRP levels were associated with increasing risk for psychological distress and depression. For self-reported antidepressant use, the ORs were 1.38 (95% CI, 1.23-1.55) for CRP levels of 1.01 to 3 mg/L; 2.02 (95% CI, 1.77-2.30) for levels ranging from 3.01 to 10 mg/L; and 2.7 (95% CI, 2.25-3.25) for levels greater than 10 mg/L compared with CRP levels between 0.01 to 1 mg/L. For prescription of antidepressants, the corresponding ORs were 1.08 (95% CI, 0.99-1.17), 1.47 (95% CI, 1.33-1.62), and 1.77 (95% CI, 1.52-2.05), respectively. For hospitalization with depression, the ORs were 1.3, (95% CI, 1.01-1.67), 1.84 (95% CI, 1.39-2.43) and 2.27 (95% CI, 1.54-3.32), respectively. Other analyses suggest that increasing CRP levels also were associated with increasing risk for hospitalization with depression.
"More research is needed to establish the direction of the association between CRP and depression because this study and others are primarily cross-sectional," wrote Andersen. "The results also support the initiation of intervention studies to examine whether adding anti-inflammatory drugs to antidepressants for treatment of depression will improve outcome."
Disclosure:This study was supported by Herlev Hospital, Copenhagen University Hospital and the Danish Council for Independent Research, Medical Sciences. The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.