Autoimmune inflammation significantly increases risk of mood disorders

New research shows that the chronic inflammation of autoimmunity is associated with nearly a two-fold increased risk for psychiatric disorders including depression, bipolar disorder, and anxiety.

Chronic exposure to systemic inflammation is linked to a greater risk for mood disorders. For people with an autoimmune condition, the risk was nearly twice that of the general population.

Research recently published in BMJ [British Medical Journal] Mental Health demonstrates the need to be attentive to the role of chronic inflammation in the development of psychiatric disorders.

“Chronic inflammation is associated with psychiatric disorders. If inflammation is linked mechanistically to mental health, people living with chronic inflammatory conditions may experience mental health issues at higher rates than others.”

This study is particularly compelling in that the authors, using an autoimmune condition as an indirect indicator of chronic inflammation, examined data from a large cohort of 1,563,155 adult subjects from the general population to test their hypothesis.

Medscape quotes the lead author, Mudra Rakshasa-Loots, MD, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland:

“This study is the first to use data from the Our Future Health cohort, “which is already the world’s largest consented cohort study, so we were able to analyze the relationship between inflammatory conditions and mental health issues with unprecedented precision.”

Substantial increase in affective disorders

For all the affective/mood disorders considered—depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder—the risk was for people with autoimmune conditions was nearly twice that of the general population.

“Lifetime prevalence (95% CI) of self-reported lifetime diagnoses of any affective disorder (depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety) was significantly higher (p<0.001) among people with autoimmune conditions (28.8% (28.4% to 29.3%)) than in the general population (17.9% (17.8% to 18.0%)), with similar trends observed for individual affective disorders. Prevalence of current depressive symptoms (9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) ≥10, 18.6% vs 10.5%) and current anxiety symptoms (7-item Generalised Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) ≥8, 19.9% vs 12.9%) was also higher among people with autoimmune conditions.…and these odds remained elevated when adjusting for the effects of age, sex, ethnicity (OR=1.75 (1.71 to 1.79), p<0.001) and additionally, for household income, parental history of affective disorders, chronic pain status and frequency of social interactions (OR=1.48 (1.44 to 1.52), p<0.001).”

This study adds to the body of evidence reminding clinicians to be attentive to the presence of brain-based disorders in there is chronic inflammation.