Psychiatry Research EG

Background In the previous studies, the relevance of inflammatory processes to disorders of the brain and body may serve as an important touchstone for increasing integration of psychiatry and medicine. Until recently few studies have examined the potential role of inflammation in bipolar I disorder. We aimed to compare C-reactive protein (CRP) serum levels as a marker of systemic inflammation between bipolar disorder (BD) patients in different affective phases and matched healthy controls and to investigate the possible effects of CRP elevations on the cognitive function in BD remitted patients. Patients and methods A total of 42 patients with bipolar I disorder subdivided into manic, depressive, and full remitted groups were examined. We measured the circulating levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP); the results were compared with 42 age-matched and sex-matched healthy controls. Then the neuropsychological function for the full remitted group only was assessed using the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status test and examine the correlation between the neuropsychological function and hsCRP levels in this group. Results It showed that the hsCRP levels were significantly higher in BD patients than in healthy controls. Also when comparing each group (manic, depressed, and remitted) separately with healthy controls, the difference was still statistically highly significant ( P <0.001). There was statistically significant positive correlation between hsCRP levels and poor performance on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status total and four of its five subscales ( P <0.05) except for the visuospatial/constructional subtest ( P >0.05). Conclusion Our finding adds to the growing evidence that inflammation has a role in the psychopathology of mood disorders.