Observational studyBMJ open2025
Longitudinal analysis of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines in the cerebrospinal fluid and peripheral blood of treatment-naïve first-episode psychosis patients, and their correlation with psychosis severity and cognitive impairment in sub-Saharan Africa.
Observational study in BMJ open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- 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
- ScRNA profiling of peripheral blood in kidney transplant recipients across rejection responses and treatments.Scientific data · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundInflammation is indicated as one of the factors that play a role in the development of schizophrenia, with several studies having found considerable inconsistencies in their results. Few have investigated the role of inflammation in primary psychosis in blood and cerebrospinal fluids simultaneously, the aim of this study being to investigate the expression of blood and cerebrospinal fluid inflammatory cytokines in treatment-naive first-episode psychotic participants. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a combined cross-sectional and prospective observational study, which is currently taking place in Durban, South Africa, will recruit 60 participants (30 cases and 30 matched controls). The primary objective is to describe baseline CSF and longitudinal expression/levels of inflammatory cytokines in the blood in persons diagnosed with first-episode psychosis (FEP) for 12 months. The secondary objective is to describe the associations between inflammatory cytokines and psychosis severity, neurocognitive performance, antipsychotic response and metabolic changes at different time points (baseline, 3, 6 and 12 months).
interventionsWe will collect the sociodemographic details of all participants, and the Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Childhood Trauma Scale, Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status Update, metabolic markers and inflammatory markers (venous blood and lumbar puncture cerebrospinal fluid) for those with FEP. Data from matched controls will only be collected at one point and no follow-ups (cross-sectional). ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study protocol has been approved by the University of KwaZulu-Natal Biomedical Research Ethics Committee (BREC/00004714/2022). The study is nested in an ongoing study titled the burden of HIV and Psychosis in an African setting: a longitudinal study of HIV-infected and non-infected patients with First-Episode Psychosis (BREC 571/18). The results will be actively disseminated through peer-reviewed journal publications and conference presentations.
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Registered trials
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