Association between serum IL-6 level and sustained attention in patients with major depressive disorder / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To examine the correlation between serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels and sustained attention in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).Methods 30 patients with MDD and 30 healthy controls were enrolled in the case-control study.Serum IL-6 levels in all subjects were assessed by sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Sustained attention in all subjects was measured respectively using rapid visual information processing(RVP) task in the Cambridge neuropsychological tests automated battery (CANTAB).Results Serum IL-6 levels in patients with MDD were significantly higher than those in healthy controls after controlling for gender,age,education,smoking,and BMI ((12.03±0.83) pg/ml,(2.77±0.24) pg/ml) (P＜0.01).RVP total misses and RVP mean latency in patients with MDD were higher than those in healthy controls after controlling for gender,age,education,smoking,and BMI(RVP total misses (10.20±4.44),(5.37±3.67),P=0.008,RVP latency (486.78± 135.47) ms,(370.58±72.42)ms,P=0.014).Serum IL-6 level were positively correlated with RVP mean latency in patients with MDD (r=0.46,P=0.011).But there were no correlation between serum IL-6 level and RVP total hits and RVP total misses in patients with MDD(P＞0.05),and there were also no relationship between serum IL-6 levels and RVP task in healthy controls(P＞0.05).Conclusions Serum IL-6 level may be implicated in the impairment of sustained attention in patients with MDD,and elevated IL-6 level may influence the susceptibility to MDD.