Purpose: Depression is associated with an inflammatory immune response. There are minimal data regarding the association of inflammatory markers with depression in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). We aimed to investigate the association of inflammatory markers with depression in middle-aged and elderly SCI patients.
Methods: Data were obtained from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study, a longitudinal study of a representative sample of the adult population. We analyzed the associations of serum levels of fibrinogen, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-ɑ, and C-reactive protein with depressive symptoms.
Results: The median participant age was 52.5 years; 44.9% of participants were men. Multivariate linear regression analyses showed that an increased serum fibrinogen level (Sβ = 0.114, p = 0.005) was associated with higher Centre for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) scores after adjustment for age, sex, body mass index (BMI), ethnicity, education, marital status, smoking, alcohol use, exercise, perceived stress score, and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that an increased serum fibrinogen level was independently associated with a history of depression (odds ratio [OR] = 1.240, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.103– 1.997, p = 0.012) and depressive symptoms (OR = 1.884, 95% CI = 1.165– 2.499, p < 0.001; CES-D score ≥ 16) after adjustment for confounding factors. Stratified analysis revealed that the association between serum fibrinogen level and depressive symptoms was affected by antidepressant use.
Conclusion: Serum fibrinogen level had a significantly positive association with depressive symptoms in middle-aged and elderly patients with SCI. Future longitudinal cohort studies should evaluate the possible use of serum fibrinogen for diagnosis of depression in SCI patients.
Keywords: fibrinogen, depression, spinal cord injury, cross-sectional study