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Meta-Analysis
. 2014 Mar 31:4:4530.
doi: 10.1038/srep04530.

Meta-analysis of infectious agents and depression

Xiao Wang  1 , Liang Zhang  2 , Yang Lei  2 , Xia Liu  2 , Xinyu Zhou  3 , Yiyun Liu  3 , Mingju Wang  3 , Liu Yang  4 , Lujun Zhang  4 , Songhua Fan  3 , Peng Xie  3
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Meta-analysis of infectious agents and depression

Xiao Wang et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Depression is a debilitating psychiatric disorder and a growing global public health issue. However, the relationships between microbial infections and depression remains uncertain. A computerized literature search of Medline, ISI Web of Knowledge, PsycINFO, and the Cochrane Library was conducted up to May 2013, and 6362 studies were initially identified for screening. Case-control studies detected biomarker of microorganism were included. Based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, 28 studies were finally included to compare the detection of 16 infectious agents in unipolar depressed patients and healthy controls with a positive incident being defined as a positive biochemical marker of microbial infection. A customized form was used for data extraction. Pooled analysis revealed that the majority of the 16 infectious agents were not significantly associated with depression. However, there were statistically significant associations between depression and infection with Borna disease virus, herpes simplex virus-1, varicella zoster virus, Epstein-Barr virus, and Chlamydophila trachomatis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Flow diagram depicting the stages of the systematic review and meta analysis.
The number of studies (n) identified, screened, excluded, and included are detailed.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Forest plot of studies comparing Borna disease virus (BDV) infection between depressed patients and healthy controls.
BDV infection was shown to have a statistically significant association with depression.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Forest plot of studies comparing human herpes virus (HHV) infections between depressed patients and healthy controls.
(A) herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1, HHV-1), (B) varciella zoster virus (VZV, HHV-3), (C) Epstein-Barr virus (EBV, HHV-4), and (D) cytomegalovirus (CMV, HHV-5). Only HSV-1, VZV, EBV infection was shown to have a statistically significant association with depression.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Forest plot of studies comparing Chlamydiaceae infections between depressed patients and healthy controls.
(A) C. trachomatis, (B) C. pneumoniae, and (C) C. psittaci. Only C. trachomatis infection was shown to have a statistically significant association with depression.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Forest plot of studies comparing two other microorganisms infections between depressed patients and healthy controls.
(A) hepatitis B virus, (B) Toxoplasma gondii. Neither of them infection was shown to have a statistically significant association with depression.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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