Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2019 Jun;29(5):362-369.
doi: 10.1089/cap.2019.0015. Epub 2019 Apr 2.

Inflammatory Cytokines in Children and Adolescents with Depressive Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Giulia D'Acunto  1 , Fatuma Nageye  2 , Junhua Zhang  3 , Gabriele Masi  1 , Samuele Cortese  4   5   6   7   8
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Inflammatory Cytokines in Children and Adolescents with Depressive Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Giulia D'Acunto et al. J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol. 2019 Jun.

Abstract

Objective: Meta-analytic evidence shows alterations of peripheral inflammatory cytokines in adults with depressive disorders. By contrast, no evidence synthesis on alterations of peripheral inflammatory cytokines in children/adolescents with depressive disorders is available to date. To fill this gap, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of case-control studies comparing serum cytokine levels in children/adolescents with depressive disorders and healthy controls. Methods: Based on a preregistered protocol (PROSPERO-CRD42018095418), we searched PubMed, Ovid, and Web of Knowledge from inception through July 21, 2018, with no language restrictions, and contacted study authors for unpublished data/information. Random-effects model was used to compute effect size for each cytokine. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to asses study bias. Results: From a pool of 4231 nonduplicate, potentially relevant references, 8 studies were retained for the qualitative synthesis and 5 for the meta-analysis. TNF-α was higher in participants with depressive disorders versus controls, falling short of statistical significance. Conclusions: Overall, due to the small number of studies, in contrast to the literature in adults, further evidence is needed to confirm possible inflammatory alterations associated with depression in youth.

Keywords: adolescents; children; cytokines; depression; inflammation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

LinkOut - more resources