Clinical implications of the cytokine hypothesis of depression: the association between use of statins and aspirin and the risk of major depression.

摘要

The notion that inflammation and inflammatory mediators increase major depressive disorder (MDD) vulnerability is well established [1-3]. Chronic disease states characterised by inflammation are often accompanied by depression [4, 5]. Furthermore, depression is commonly reported among patients following exposure to cytokine-based immunotherapy [6, 7], systemic inflammation has been implicated in the development of depressive symptoms in the elderly [8, 9], and recent twin studies support a genetic contribution to inflammation and the pathogenesis of depression [10, 11]. As statins (3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coen-zyme A reductase inhibitors) and aspirin both have anti-inflammatory properties [12, 13], we hypothesised that therapy with these agents would reduce the risk for depression.