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Psychological distress and C-reactive protein in a South African national survey

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 July 2019

Ronel Sewpaul Open the ORCID record for Ronel Sewpaul [Opens in a new window] ,
Petrus J.W. Naudé Open the ORCID record for Petrus J.W. Naudé [Opens in a new window] ,
Dan J. Stein Open the ORCID record for Dan J. Stein [Opens in a new window]  and
Demetre Labadarios
Ronel Sewpaul*
Affiliation:
Population Health, Health Systems and Innovation, Human Sciences Research Council, Cape Town, South Africa
Petrus J.W. Naudé
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Brain Behaviour Unit, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
Dan J. Stein
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Brain Behaviour Unit, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa SU/UCT MRC Unit on Risk and Resilience in Mental Disorders and Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
Demetre Labadarios
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa
*
Author for correspondence: Ronel Sewpaul, Email: rsewpaul@hsrc.ac.za
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Abstract

Objective:

To examine the association of psychological distress with serum C-reactive protein (CRP) in a South African cohort.

Methods:

Data were analysed on individuals aged ≥15 years from the South African National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (SANHANES) of 2012. Psychological distress was evaluated using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale. Linear regression models assessed the association of psychological distress with serum CRP, adjusting for possible confounding factors.

Results:

The analytic sample comprised n = 3944 individuals (mean age = 40 and sex = 36% males). Psychological distress was significantly associated with increased serum CRP levels (B = 0.31 and p = 0.001). This association was no longer significant after adjusting for demographic variables, lifestyle factors, cardiac disease, diabetes, hypertension, trauma and anti-inflammatory medication use (B = 0.15 and p = 0.062).

Conclusion:

Psychological distress was associated with elevated levels of CRP among South African adults. However, the association was confounded by a range of factors, with demographic variables (age, sex and population group) having the largest confounding effect. These findings indicate that CRP is not a useful biomarker of psychological distress, and that additional work is needed on the underlying psychobiology of psychological distress.

Keywords

C-reactive proteindepressionSouth Africainflammation
Type
Short Communication
Information
Acta Neuropsychiatrica , Volume 31 , Issue 5 , October 2019 , pp. 270 - 275
Copyright
© Scandinavian College of Neuropsychopharmacology 2019 

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