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Objective:To evaluate the correlation between brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and inflammatory markers in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with depressive symptoms.Methods:This study was a cross-sectional study. RA patients' medical history were recorded and disease activity was evaluated. Serum BDNF, interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α were tested and clinical inflammatory indicators such as C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), fibrinogen (FIB), serum amyloid A (SAA) were recorded. RA patients were instructed to fill in the patient health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scale by themselves. Patients with a score greater than or equal to 5 were included in the RA with depressive symptoms group, and patients with a score of 4 or less were included in the RA without depressive symptoms group. The changes in BDNF and inflammatory indexes were compared between the two groups. Correlation analysis of PHQ-9, BDNF, inflammatory markers and DAS28 was performed. Logistic regression analysis was performed to find the risk factors of depression in RA.Results:A total of 140 RA patients were enrolled in this study, and 66 patients (47.1%) with a PHQ-9 score greater than or equal to 5 were included in the RA with depressive symptoms group. Compared with the RA without depressive symptoms group, RA patients with high disease activity, single and living alone, poor economic self-awareness and unemployed were more likely to have depressive symptoms. The serum level of BDNF[(2 276±333) pg/ml vs (1 367±431) pg/ml, t=13.91, P<0.001], IL-6[(39±28) pg/ml vs (27±8) pg/ml, t=3.66, P<0.001], TNF-α[(9.0±7.2) pg/ml vs (6.6±3.9)pg/ml, t=2.43, P=0.035], CRP[(25±13) mg/L vs (17±11) mg/L, t=3.94, P<0.001], ESR[(48±18) mm/1 h vs (34±21) mm/1 h, t=4.14, P=0.024], Fib[(3.8±1.1) g/L vs (3.0±0.5) g/L, t=5.92, P=0.023], SAA[(64±39) mg/L vs (37±19) mg/L, t=5.32, P<0.001] in RA with depressive symptoms group were significantly higher than those in RA without depressive symptoms group. Serum BDNF was significantly positively correlated with PHQ-9 score ( r=0.66, P<0.001), IL-6( r=0.20, P=0.019), TNF-α ( r=0.14, P=0.090), CRP ( r=0.32, P<0.001), ESR ( r=0.20, P= 0.001), Fib ( r=0.28, P=0.001), SAA( r=0.28, P=0.001) and DAS28 ( r=0.37, P<0.001) . BDNF [ OR (95% CI) =1.578(1.257, 2.354), P=0.001], IL-6[ OR (95% CI) =1.073(1.012, 1.075), P=0.006], CRP[ OR(95% CI)=1.085(1.045, 1.178), P=0.001], SAA[ OR(95% CI)=1.125(1.004, 1.198), P=0.018] and unemployment were risk factors for depressive symptoms in RA. Conclusion:Serum BDNF is positively correlated with PHQ-9 scores, inflammatory markers and disease activity in RA patients. BDNF, IL-6, CRP, SAA and unemployment are risk factors for depressive symptoms in RA. Effective treatment of RA can reduce the occurrence of depression symptoms.
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Objective:To evaluate the clinical characteristics and identify potential factors of the early-stage hip involvement in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) based on the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).Methods:A retrospective group control study was carried out in 570 AS patients who were consecutively admitted to our hospital from 2014 to 2018. Patients with hip pain or hip function limitation but lacking definitive evidence of hip involvement on radiography were underwent hip MRI. Patients were divided into three groups: no hip involvement, early-stage hip involvement (hip involvement detected by MRI but with negative radiographs) and advanced-stage hip involvement (Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Radiology Index-hip score ≥2). The study factors included demographic, laboratory, clinical and radiographic data. Simple and multiple ordinal logistic regression analysis were used to identify factors associated with the early-stage hip involvement and advanced-stage hip involvement.Results:A total of 236 patients (41.4%) presented with hip involvement, in which 146 cases (25.6%) were diagnosed with early-stage hip involvement, while 90 cases (15.8%) were diagnosed with advanced-stage hip involvement. Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that older age at onset [ OR=0.80, 95% CI (0.72, 0.90), P<0.01], more active inflammation in the sacroiliac joints [ OR=1.13, 95% CI(1.07, 1.18), P<0.01] and worse BASMI score [ OR=3.06, 95% CI(2.14, 4.13), P<0.01] were associated with the occurrence of early-stage hip involvement. Conclusion:MRI is superior to radiography in detecting early-stage hip involvement. MRI is more suitable for hip involvement assessment in AS patients with suspected symptoms or risk factors of hip involvement.