Within-subject associations between inflammation and features of depression: Using the flu vaccine as a mild inflammatory stimulus.
Open accessAbstract
Background Inflammation plays a role in mood and behavior that may be relevant to identifying risk factors and treatment for depression and other stress-related illnesses. The purpose of this study was to examine whether fluctuations in inflammation following a mild immune stimulus were associated with changes in daily reported features of depression for up to a week in a healthy sample of young adults.Methods Forty-one undergraduate students completed daily diaries of mood, feelings of social disconnection, sleep, and physical symptoms for one week before and after receiving the seasonal influenza vaccine. Circulating plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6) was measured via blood samples taken immediately before and one day after vaccination.Results There was a significant increase in circulating IL-6 from pre- to post-intervention (p = .008), and there was significant variability in the magnitude of IL-6 change. Greater increases in IL-6 were associated with greater mood disturbance on post-vaccine days, specifically depressed mood and cognitive symptoms.Conclusions Minor increases in inflammation were associated with corresponding increases in features of depression, and these associations occurred in the absence of any physical symptoms. The influenza vaccine could be used to probe causal relationships with a high degree of ecological validity, even in high-risk and vulnerable populations, to better understand the role of inflammation in the pathogenesis of depression.
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Associations between inflammatory activity and sickness behavior predicted depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment 1 week later.
“the associations between inflammatory activity and sickness behavior were not restricted to the laboratory, but also predicted depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment 1 week later (Kuhlman et al., 2018).”
From The interplay between stress, inflammation, and emotional attention: relevance for depression (2019) · cites this paper as Kuhlman et al., 2018
Correlational research links mildly elevated inflammatory markers to cognitive function measured both by self-report and objectively.
“In some ways, this is puzzling given that inflammatory processes have been shown to regulate learning and memory (e.g., Yirmiya and Goshen, 2011) and that correlational studies have identified associations between mild elevations in inflammatory markers and both self-reported (Davis et al., 2018; Kuhlman et al., 2018) and objective (Marsland et al., 2015) measures of cognitive function.”
From The role of inflammation in core features of depression: Insights from paradigms using exogenously-induced inflammation. (2018) · cites this paper as Kuhlman et al., 2018
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References 68 · Cited by 67
- Authors
- Kuhlman, K. R., Robles, T. F., Dooley, L. N., Boyle, C. C., Haydon, M. D., & Bower, J. E.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kuhlman, Kate R.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-03
- Volume
- 69
- Pages
- 540-547
- ISSN
- 0889-1591 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5857469
- OpenAlex
- W2790622040
- Cited by
- 67
- References
- 68
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 4
- FWCI
- 2.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Brain Behavior and Immunity (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (K08MH112773, T32MH015750)
- Norman Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology (K08MH112773, T32MH015750)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Biological Psychiatry › Tryptophan and brain disorders
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Vagus Nerve Stimulation Research
- Keywords
- inflammation, depression, interleukin-6, influenza vaccination, immune challenge, mood disturbance, social disconnection, sleep, somatic symptoms, cognitive symptoms, within-person variability, young adults, causal inference
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Affect, Depression, Female, Humans, Inflammation, Influenza Vaccines, Male, Interleukin-6, Illness Behavior, Young Adult
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