Abstract
The aim of this work was to investigate differences between depressed subjects (PG) and non-depressed healthy control participants (HCG) with regard to fatigue dimensions and inflammation. For this purpose, 43 participants in the PG and 51 participants in the HCG were included in the study. IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α, IFN-γ, and CRP were assessed in venous blood samples. Fatigue and depression were assessed using the FIS-D and BDI-FS questionnaires. Main results showed higher BDI-FS values in PG. Moreover, PG showed mean differences for fatigue dimensions when compared to the HCG. For the pro-inflammatory markers, a moderate group effect was found between PG and HCG which was mainly caused by IL-6. Correlations between TNF-α and BDI-FS, TNF-α and cognitive fatigue, TNF-α and psychosocial fatigue were found within the PG. In the HCG, correlations were found between IL-6, TNF-α and somatic fatigue, as well as IL-6 and cognitive fatigue. Significant correlations were found between the psychological variables in both groups. All results were controlled for the confounding variables gender, age, BMI and multiple comparisons. These results suggest the presence of inflammation in both depression and fatigue. However, each correlates with different pro-inflammatory parameters, suggesting a biological heterogeneity.
Highlights
The aim of this work was to investigate differences between depressed subjects (PG) and non-depressed healthy control participants (HCG) with regard to fatigue dimensions and inflammation
To contribute to the evidence line for depression, which shows differences and possible correlations between fatigue and pro-inflammatory mechanisms in depression[19,24,25,26], the main objectives of this study are (1) to examine whether the fatigue dimensions scores differ between participants with depression and non-depressed healthy control subjects, (2) to investigate whether the concentration of certain pro-inflammatory markers differ between the two groups, (3) to test whether there is a positive correlation between inflammation and the depression severity scores, and (4) the investigation of positive correlations between the values of fatigue dimensions and inflammation in participants with depression compared to non-depressed healthy control subjects
The age differed between the groups by about 1 year with the IQR being slightly higher in the depression group (Table 1)
Summary
The aim of this work was to investigate differences between depressed subjects (PG) and non-depressed healthy control participants (HCG) with regard to fatigue dimensions and inflammation. To reach a possible definition, two reviews from Brurberg et al and Watanabe et al proposed an dimensional approach for fatigue[12,13], which include three important dimensions: somatic (e.g. musculoskeletal pain/tiredness), psychosocial (e.g. restrained social activity due to fatigue or mood impairment), and cognitive complains (e.g. decreased ability to maintain attention, memory impairment)[12,13]. Following this dimensional approach, many conditions were associated with different dimensions of fatigue, including: drugs, deficiency diseases (i.e. iron-deficiency anemia), depression, anxiety disorders, burnout and chronic fatigue syndrome[14,15]. It was demonstrated in patients with chronic kidney disease that higher levels of Characteristic Age (in years) Gender (male: female) BMI (kg/m2) Smoking status (yes: no) Primary cause of DE
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