SynthesisMolecular psychiatry2021
The longitudinal associations of inflammatory biomarkers and depression revisited: systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression.
Synthesis in Molecular psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 190 papers, 11 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
190 citing papers in PubMed, 11 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 325 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sex-specific associations of depression with inflammatory markers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Translational psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- TNF-α levels in first-episode, drug-naïve patients with major depressive disorder: a case-control study and meta-analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Effect of Anti-Inflammatory Treatment on Depressive Symptom Severity and Anhedonia in Depressed Individuals With Elevated Inflammation: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.The American journal of psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Purpose in life and c-reactive protein: An individual-participant meta-analysis of >50,000 adults.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2025Pooled it
- Decoding and reconstructing disease relations between dry eye and depression: a multimodal investigation comprising meta-analysis, genetic pathways and Mendelian randomization.Journal of advanced research · 2025Pooled it
- Nonlinear dose-response relationship between dietary inflammatory index and risk of depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- Developing a translational research framework for MDD: combining biomolecular mechanisms with a spiraling risk factor model.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Identifying transdiagnostically relevant risk and protective factors for internalizing psychopathology: An umbrella review of longitudinal meta-analyses.Journal of psychiatric research · 2023Pooled it
- Cancer-related inflammation and depressive symptoms: Systematic review and meta-analysis.Cancer · 2022Pooled it
- The Impact of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Peripheral Interleukin-6 Levels in Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Inflammation and depression in young people: a systematic review and proposed inflammatory pathways.Molecular psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Consummatory deficits in close social reward predict inflammation-induced depressed mood.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2026Trial
- The immune phenotype of perinatal anxiety in an anxiety-focused behavioral intervention program in Pakistan.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2024Trial
- The antidepressant effect of whole-body hyperthermia is associated with the classical interleukin-6 signaling pathway.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2024Trial
- Omega-3 fatty acids reduce depressive symptoms only among the socially stressed: A corollary of the social signal transduction theory of depression.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2023Trial
- Inflammatory Markers of Geriatric Depression Response to Tai Chi or Health Education Adjunct Interventions.The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry · 2023Trial
- Sleep fragmentation and heightened inflammation: A latent profile subtype predicting nine-year major depressive disorder severity in the MIDUS study.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Interleukin-6 responses to acute stress are not altered in alcohol use disorder despite elevated baseline inflammation.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Perceived Everyday Discrimination, Dysfunctional Attitudes, and Their Influence on Depressive Symptoms and Inflammation in Youth.Research in nursing & health · 2026Article
- Associations between inflammation markers (CRP and IL-6) and depression among adolescents and young adults in Soweto and Durban, South Africa.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
130 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The innate immune system is dysregulated in depression; however, less is known about the longitudinal associations of depression and inflammatory biomarkers. We investigated the prospective associations of depression and inflammatory biomarkers [interleukin-6 (IL-6), Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha (TNF-α), and C-reactive protein (CRP)] in community samples, both unadjusted and adjusted for covariates. The review, registered with PROSPERO, searched for published and unpublished studies via MEDLINE/PsycINFO/PsycARTICLES/EMBASE/Proquest Dissertation. Standardized Fisher transformations of the correlation/beta coefficients, both unadjusted and adjusted for covariates, were extracted from studies examining the prospective associations of depression and inflammatory biomarkers. Systematic review conducted in January, 2019 included 38 studies representing 58,256 participants, with up to 27 studies included in random-effects meta-analysis. Higher CRP/IL-6 were associated with future depressive symptoms, and higher depressive symptoms were associated with higher future CRP/IL-6 in both unadjusted and adjusted analyses - this is the first meta-analysis reporting an adjusted association of IL-6 with future depression. The adjusted prospective associations of depression with CRP/CRP with depression were substantially attenuated and small in magnitude. No significant associations were observed for TNF-α. No conclusive results were observed in studies of clinical depression. Meta-regression indicated that the association of CRP and future depression was larger in older samples and in studies not controlling for possible infection. Small, prospective associations of depression and inflammatory biomarkers are observed in both directions, particularly for IL-6; however, the strength and importance of this relationship is likely obscured by the heterogeneity in depression and profound study/methodological differences. Implications for future studies are discussed.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.