Browsing by Subject "http://www.yso.fi/onto/yso/p24885"

Objective. The association of depression with inflammation has been well established. Nevertheless, it is still unclear how age or gender affect the association or do unhealthy lifestyles mediate the association. The association of anxiety and specific anxiety disorders with inflammation has been studied much less and current results concerning this association are conflicting. Some results suggest that only the somatic component of anxiety, anxious arousal, is associated with inflammation. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether depressive and anxiety symptoms are associated with markers of inflammation, namely C-reactive protein and interleukin-6, at population level. The effect of health and lifestyle related variables are adjusted. Also, possible interactions between gender and inflammation as well as age and inflammation on depressive and anxiety symptoms are examined. Methods. The data is from a national sample gathered in the United States of America between 2004 and 2005. The subjects (n=1137) were 34–84 years old, the mean age being 54,28. 56,4 % were women. Blood CRP and IL-6 concentrations were gathered and analysed. Depressive symptoms were measured with the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Inventory (CES-D). The Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire (MASQ) was used to measure two anxiety symptom groups: general anxious distress and anxious arousal. Results and conclusions. The results were that higher levels of IL-6 and CRP predicted more depressive symptoms as well as symptoms of anxious arousal. General anxious distress was not associated with inflammation. This study implies that depressive and some anxiety symptoms are associated with inflammation at population level. However, all of the significant associations were partly (IL-6) or completely (CRP) explained by lifestyles. Causal relationships between lifestyles, depression, anxious arousal and inflammation remain unclear and require more research. These results support the hypothesis that inflammation is only associated with the somatic arousal component of anxiety. Supporting former results the association of anxious arousal with CRP was found only in men.