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High-Sensitive c-Reactive Protein Levels in Euthymic Bipolar Patients: Case-Control Study

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Abstract

Bipolar disorder is a chronic, disabling disease that is characterized by the recurrence of thymic episodes. The role of the immune-inflammatory system in the etiopathogenesis of this affection arouses the interest of research. The aim of this work was to determine the plasma levels of the high sensitivity C reactive protein (hs-CRP) in patients with bipolar disorder in remission phase by comparing them to a control group.

A case-control cross-sectional study was conducted from 56 subjects with bipolar disorder in clinical remission, and 56 volunteers and healthy control subjects.

Mean plasma hs-CRP was significantly higher in patients with bipolar disorder than control subjects. In bipolar patients, a hs-CRP elevation was significantly associated with the disease severity item mean score.

Through this study, bipolar disorder appears to be associated with a state of chronic inflammation. This should lead to randomized controlled trials evaluating the value of anti-inflammatory drugs in the management of bipolar disorder.

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Acknowledgments

The author appreciates all those who participated in the study and helped to facilitate the research process.

Funding

All authors declare that they received no source of funding for this study.

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Author notes

  1. Ghada Hamdi and Hanen Ben Ammar contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine of Tunis, El Manar University, Tunis, Tunisia

    Ghada Hamdi, Hanen Ben Ammar, Emira Khelifa & Zouhaier Elhechmi

  2. Psychiatry Department “F”, Razi Hospital, 2010, Manouba, Tunisia

    Ghada Hamdi & Hanen Ben Ammar

  3. Clinical Biology Department, Salah Azaiz Institute, Tunis, Tunisia

    Arij Ben Chaaben, Sabria Khouadja, Fayza Ayari, Ons Mihoub & Fethi Guémira

  4. Faculté of Medicine of Monastir, Monastir, Tunisia

    Ryad Tamouza

  5. Department of psychiatry, university hospital Mondor, Paris, France

    Ryad Tamouza

Authors
  1. Ghada Hamdi
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  2. Hanen Ben Ammar
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  3. Emira Khelifa
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  4. Arij Ben Chaaben
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  7. Ons Mihoub
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  8. Ryad Tamouza
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  10. Zouhaier Elhechmi
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ghada Hamdi or Hanen Ben Ammar.

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All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Research Involving Human Participants

This study was approved by the Razi Hospital institutional Review board.

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All participants gave their free and informed consent in writing to participate in the study.

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Hamdi, G., Ammar, H.B., Khelifa, E. et al. High-Sensitive c-Reactive Protein Levels in Euthymic Bipolar Patients: Case-Control Study. Psychiatr Q 92, 803–811 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-020-09854-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-020-09854-y

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