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Cited by 10Tryptophan and brain disordersLong-Term Effects of COVID-19COVID-19 and Mental Health

Inflammation and severity of depressive symptoms in physically active individuals after COVID-19 – An exploratory immunopsychological study investigating the effect of inflammation on depressive symptom severity

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Matits, Lynn, Munk, Moritz, Bizjak, Daniel Alexander, Kolassa, Iris-Tatjana, Karrasch, Sarah, Vollrath, Shirin, Jerg, Achim, Steinacker, Jürgen Michael·2023·Brain, Behavior, & Immunity - Health
DOI 10.1016/j.bbih.2023.100614PMC PMC10035808
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Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 infection is a risk factor for the development of depressive symptoms such as lack of energy, loss of interest, and depressed mood. Inflammatory processes might underline this association. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between inflammatory markers and the severity of depression after SARS-CoV-2 infection and the predictive effect of inflammatory markers on the severity of depressive symptoms. Lifestyle factors and lifestyle-related diseases can influence inflammation and depressive symptoms. As these lifestyle factors and lifestyle-related diseases are less common in physically active individuals, they are a suitable population for investigating this research question. We investigated 61 at least moderate physically active individuals on average ∼6 months (SD = 4.22, range = 0.5–19 months) after SARS-CoV-2 infection (t0) and performed a follow-up after 3 months (t1). Depressive symptoms and biomarkers of inflammation (interleukin [IL]-1β, IL-8, IL-10, Ferritin, Lipopolysaccharide-binding-protein [LBP], neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio [NLR], platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio [PLR], lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio [LMR]) and kynurenine [KYN] were measured at both time points. Concentrations of inflammatory markers at t0 were used to predict the severity of depressive symptoms at t0 and t1. Concentrations of KYN were negatively related to the severity of depressive symptoms at t0. Concentrations of LMR predicted higher depressive symptoms at t0 as well as at t1. Furthermore, individuals with lower concentrations of LBP at t0 showed a higher severity of depressive symptoms at t1. No correlation was found between severity of depressive symptoms and IL-1β, IL-8, IL-10, ferritin, NLR, and PLR at both time points. KYN, LBP and LMR might be useful as a predictive factor of depressive symptoms in physically active individuals after SARS-CoV-2 infection. While the results for KYN confirm the current scientific evidence, our results highlight the importance of the innovative inflammatory markers LMR and LBP. LMR and LBP might be interesting targets for predicting the development of depressive symptoms in SARS-CoV-2 infected populations and should be further investigated in future studies.

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  • So far, studies examining the relationship between episode severity and inflammatory ratios have only looked at MDD.

    “So far, studies examining the relationship between episode severity and inflammatory ratios have only looked at MDD.22”

    From Association Between Mood Disorder Severity, Treatment Response and Systemic Inflammatory Markers: Exploring the Role of NLR, PLR, MLR, and SII (2024) · cites this paper as [22]

    The Results (Associations between concentrations of inflammatory markers and depressive symptoms at first attendance; page not specified) examine inflammatory ratios against depressive-symptom severity in physically active people after COVID-19, rather than only in people with MDD. The Discussion (Cytokines; page not specified) cautions that participants with elevated symptom scores cannot necessarily be assumed to meet diagnostic criteria for a depressive episode. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Matits, L., Munk, M., Bizjak, D. A., Kolassa, I.-T., Karrasch, S., Vollrath, S., Jerg, A., & Steinacker, J. M.
Affiliations
  • Universität Ulm (DE)
  • University Hospital Ulm (DE)
Corresponding author
  • Matits, Lynn
  • Steinacker, Jürgen Michael
ORCID
Venue
Brain, Behavior, & Immunity - Health
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2023-07
Volume
30
Pages
100614
ISSN
2666-3546 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.bbih.2023.100614
PMC
PMC10035808
OpenAlex
W4360603324
Cited by
10
References
10
Citations by year
2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4
FWCI
0.93
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Brain Behavior & Immunity - Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
Bundesinstitut für Sportwissenschaft (FKZ 2521BI0106)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Biological Psychiatry › Tryptophan and brain disorders
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Neurology › Long-Term Effects of COVID-19
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
Keywords
COVID-19 pandemic, depressive symptoms, inflammation, inflammatory markers, physical activity, kynurenine, lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio, lipopolysaccharide-binding protein, IL-1β, IL-10, interleukin-8, ferritin, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio, depression prediction

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