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. 2015 Mar 1:173:9-14.
doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2014.10.030. Epub 2014 Oct 22.

Association of inflammatory biomarkers with depressive symptoms and cognitive decline in a community-dwelling healthy older sample: a 3-year follow-up study

Jun Matsushima  1 , Toshiro Kawashima  2 , Hiromi Nabeta  2 , Yoshiomi Imamura  3 , Itaru Watanabe  4 , Yoshito Mizoguchi  2 , Naoki Kojima  5 , Shigeto Yamada  6 , Akira Monji  7
Affiliations

Association of inflammatory biomarkers with depressive symptoms and cognitive decline in a community-dwelling healthy older sample: a 3-year follow-up study

Jun Matsushima et al. J Affect Disord. .

Abstract

Background: The relationship between the pathophysiology of dementia and neuroinflammation is well-known. The number of reports stating that depression is a risk factor for dementia has recently been increasing. These epidemiological findings suggest the possibility that both depression and dementia have common pathophysiological backgrounds of neuroinflammation.

Methods: The sample consists of 64 non-demented community-dwelling older participants aged 65 years or over. Participants were assessed at baseline (2004-2006) and 3 years later (2007-2009). Plasma concentration of markers of inflammation (interleukins (IL)-1β, IL-2, IL-6, soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R), soluble interleukin-6 receptor (sIL-6R), high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α) were measured at baseline. Depression symptoms were assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and cognitive decline was assessed with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) and Clock Drawing Test (CDT) at baseline and follow-up. All analyses were adjusted for age, gender and years of education.

Results: In the cross-sectional analysis, the present study found soluble IL-2 receptor (sIL-2R) to be associated only with the MMSE score at baseline in men. In the longitudinal analysis, none of our inflammatory biomarkers were associated with either depressive symptoms or cognitive decline.

Limitations: The present study consists of small number of participants and body mass index (BMI) scores were not obtained.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that sIL-2R is associated with current cognitive function in men. None of our inflammatory markers predicted future depressive state or cognitive decline in our community-dwelling healthy older sample.

Keywords: Cognitive decline; Community-dwelling healthy older people; Depression; Inflammatory biomarkers; Prospective study.

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