For past few years depression had been linked to increase in the risk of heart disease. And yet it was not clear exactly how the mechanism works. In a recent study published in the journal Circulation, researchers have reported the increased levels of inflammatory markers in the blood samples of people who suffer from depressions.
Researchers have investigated a wide range of inflammatory markers in a study involving blood samples of 304 men who developed heart problems within five years and 585 men who did not. The men were healthy at the beginning of the study and all of them had been of age 55 years or more.The presence of depression was defined as the score in the fourth quartile of a depression questionnaire.
The results showed that higher level of risks for cardiovascular disease existed for people who went on to have the disease in next five years. For this group the level of inflammatory markers of types C-reactive protein (CRP); fibrinogen; interleukin-6 (IL6); and adhesion cellular molecule -1 (ICAM-1) were also at a high level. 28% of the people of the high-risk group expressed the depressive mood. The researchers have noted statistically significant relationship between high scores on depression questionnaire and high level of three of the inflammation markers, IL6, CRP and ICAM-1.
