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Depression and Serum Content of Serotonin in Adult Patients with Atopic Dermatitis

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Medical Research and Development

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((CLEXBI,volume 1271))

Abstract

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic skin disease with the etiology not yet conclusively established. Recent reports demonstrate the role of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) in the pathogenesis of AD. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the serum content of serotonin and depression in adult patients suffering from severe AD. There were 31 patients of the median age of 41 years enrolled into the study, who suffered from AD since childhood, and a control group that consisted of 14 healthy subjects. AD was diagnosed on the basis of Hanifin and Rajka criteria. The severity of skin lesions was assessed with the SCORing Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) index and that of depression with the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) questionnaire. We found that all of the patients with severe AD characterized by SCORAD >50 had depression. Depression was classified as mild and moderate according to the MADRS score. Serotonin content was significantly lower in the patients with severe AD (MADRS >12), and there was an adverse relation between the serotonin content and the score of depression, the features not noticed in the control group. We conclude that severe AD, as expressed by the intensification of skin lesions, associates with depression and with the lowering of serum serotonin content. The findings point attention to the cognitive and affective problems in AD patients which could worsen the course of the skin disease.

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Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest in relation to this article.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Bioethics Committee of the Medical College of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Poland.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Cracow, Poland

    Andrzej Kazimierz Jaworek & Anna Wojas-Pelc

  2. Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Cracow, Poland

    Magdalena Jaworek

  3. Department of Health Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Cracow, Poland

    Marta Makara-Studzińska

  4. Department of Epidemiology and Population Studies, Institute of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Cracow, Poland

    Krystyna Szafraniec

  5. Department of Pneumology, Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Disorders, Field Unit in Rabka, Rabka, Poland

    Zbigniew Doniec

  6. Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, Wroclaw Medical University, Wroclaw, Poland

    Jacek Szepietowski

  7. Department of Physiotherapy, Opole Medical School, Opole, Poland

    Mieczyslaw Pokorski

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  1. Andrzej Kazimierz Jaworek
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  2. Magdalena Jaworek
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  7. Anna Wojas-Pelc
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  8. Mieczyslaw Pokorski
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Correspondence to Andrzej Kazimierz Jaworek .

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  1. Opole Medical School, Opole, Poland

    Mieczyslaw Pokorski

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Jaworek, A.K. et al. (2020). Depression and Serum Content of Serotonin in Adult Patients with Atopic Dermatitis. In: Pokorski, M. (eds) Medical Research and Development. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology(), vol 1271. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/5584_2019_470

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