ArticlePsychological medicine2013
Association of C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 with new-onset fatigue in the Whitehall II prospective cohort study.
Article in Psychological medicine, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers.
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Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 57 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α are associated with quality of life-related symptoms in pulmonary arterial hypertension.Annals of the American Thoracic Society · 2015Trial
- Closed-Loop Neuromodulation for Brain Fatigue: From Real-Time Biomarkers to Adaptive Intervention.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Persistent fatigue in long-COVID is not associated with peripheral inflammatory or cellular stress biomarkers: A cross-sectional controlled study.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Exploring factors associated with inflammation in stressed workers: a cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Correlation of C-Reactive Protein With Severe Fatigue in Patients With Myasthenia Gravis.Neurology(R) neuroimmunology & neuroinflammation · 2025Article
- C-reactive protein and fatigue after subarachnoid haemorrhage.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Article
- Peripheral Levels of Selected Biomarkers in Patients with Post-Sarcoidosis Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.Journal of inflammation research · 2025Article
- The relationship between self-perceived fatigue, muscle endurance, and circulating markers of inflammation in participants of the Copenhagen aging and Midlife Biobank (CAMB).European review of aging and physical activity : official journal of the European Group for Research into Elderly and Physical Activity · 2024Article
- Long-COVID fatigue is not predicted by pre-pandemic plasma IL-6 levels in mild COVID-19.Inflammation research : official journal of the European Histamine Research Society ... [et al.] · 2023Article
- Deriving psychiatric symptom-based biomarkers from multivariate relationships between psychophysiological and biochemical measures.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2022Article
- Orosomucoid: a promising biomarker for the assessment of exercise-induced fatigue triggered by basic combat training.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2022Article
- Association of fatigue, inflammation, and physical activity on gait speed: the Long Life Family Study.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2022Article
- Comprehensive evaluation of military training-induced fatigue among soldiers in China: A Delphi consensus study.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- IL-6 and hsCRP in Somatic Symptom Disorders and related disorders.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2020Article
- Oxidative stress and neuroinflammation should be both considered in the occurrence of fatigue and depression in multiple sclerosis.Acta neurologica Belgica · 2020Article
- Pro-inflammatory markers and fatigue in patients with depression: A case-control study.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Research Progress on Main Symptoms of Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Improved by Traditional Chinese Medicine.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAlthough basic research on neuroimmune interactions suggests that inflammatory processes may play a role in the development of fatigue, population-based evidence on this association is limited. This study examined whether plasma C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), biomarkers of systemic inflammation, predict fatigue onset.
methodThe Whitehall II study is a large-scale cohort study conducted in 20 civil service departments in London. Plasma CRP and IL-6 were measured in 4847 non-fatigued participants at phase 3 (1991-1993, aged 39-63 years). Fatigue was assessed using the Vitality subscale of the 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) at phase 3 and phase 4 (1995-1996).
resultsDuring a mean follow-up of 3.1 years, 957 new fatigue cases (19.7%) were identified using the pre-established cut-off score of ≤ 50 on the Vitality subscale. CRP values were dichotomized as low (<1.0 mg/l ) or high (≥ 1.0 mg/l) using the Centers for Disease Control/American Heart Association recommendations. Similarly, IL-6 values were also dichotomized as low (<1.5 pg/ml) or high (≥ 1.5 pg/ml). After full adjustment for sociodemographic and biobehavioral covariates, the odds ratios for new-onset fatigue were 1.28 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.09-1.49, p = 0.003] for high CRP and 1.24 (95% CI 1.06-1.45, p = 0.008) for high IL-6. Similar results were found when CRP and IL-6 were treated as continuous variables.
conclusionsPlasma CRP and IL-6 were prospectively associated with new-onset fatigue, supporting the hypothesis that low-grade inflammation has a role in the development of fatigue.
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