Peripheral blood infl ammatory markers as signals of mental disorders in a sample of elderly people

Abstract

The physiological epiphenomena and the concurrent and altered emotional and cognitive states exhibit themselves in the brain and peripherally as well. Depres- sion also carries allostatic changes related to inflammation and hormonal imba- lances, the same applies to anxiety and cognitive impairments. After examining alterations in scientific literature, we proceed with a cross-sectional study consi- dering a sample made of a group of elderly people from Northern Italy, in order to highlight potentially altered hematic levels of inflammatory markers in the serum in combination with depression, anxiety, and cognitive impairment me- asurements. As far as we know, inflammatory markers such as PLR and MLR have never been studied for this purpose in the elderly. Results exhibit differen- ces in the PLR between people with and without depression, differences in the NLR, PLR, and MLR between people with anxiety, and a predictive value in the WBC parameter, PLR, and TSH related to the cognitive state. The data suggest that, in given circumstances, inflammatory markers taken from plasma could help diagnose mental disorders and develop targeted treatments.