Depression and Inflammation may go Hand-in-Hand

Ivanhoe Newswire
Friday, September 1, 2006; 12:00 AM

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- People who are depressed are more likely to have exaggerated inflammatory responses to stressful situations, according to the results of a study released this week. Now, researchers want to know if that inflammation is behind the link between depression and heart disease ... or if it's the actual cause of depression.

Investigators from Emory University in Atlanta studied 28 otherwise healthy men. Half of the participants were diagnosed with major depression while the other half was depression-free. When faced with stressful situations, inflammatory markers in the blood rose in both the depressed men and the healthy controls, but levels were much higher in the men with major depression.

The depressed men in the study were more likely to have a history of early life stress as well, which could have contributed to the depression-inflammation link.

"While inflammation is essential for us to fight bacterial and viral infections, too much inflammation can cause harm," reports study author Andrew Miller, M.D. "There's always some collateral damage when the immune system gets fired up, and we now believe that too much inflammation, either at rest or during stress, may predispose people to become depressed or stay depressed."

The link between inflammation and depression could also help explain why people with depression are more likely to suffer from heart disease, diabetes, and other conditions that have been linked to an increased inflammatory response.

Major depression is considered the leading cause of disability in countries all over the world. Costs associated with the condition in the United States come in at around $70 billion a year.

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SOURCE: American Journal of Psychiatry, published online Sept. 1, 2006