Faugere M, et al. - The study's purpose was to assess C - Reactive Protein (CRP) levels and depressive symptoms in patients with schizophrenia, and to determine whether high CRP levels were correlated with depressive symptoms and/or antidepressant consumption, independently of potential confounding factors, particularly tobacco-smoking and metabolic syndrome. An association was found between high rates of CRP levels and depressive symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. However no relationship was found with antidepressant consumption.

Methods

• 307 patients with schizophrenia were selected in this investigation (mean age = 35.74 years, 69.1% male gender).
• After that, depressive symptoms was examined with the CDSS.
• Patients were classified in 2 groups:
  • Normal CRP level (≤3.0 mg/L)
  • High CRP level (>3.0 mg/L).
• Finally, current medication was recorded.

Results

• The authors found that 124 subjects (40.4%) were classified in the high CRP level group.
• These patients were found to have higher CDSS scores than those with normal CRP levels in multivariate analyses (p=0.035, OR=1.067, 95% CI=1.004–1.132) after adjusting for confounding factors.
• They did not find significant association between CRP levels and antidepressants consumption.