McCanlies EC, Araia SK, Joseph PN, Mnatsakanova A, Andrew ME, Burchfiel CM, Violanti JM. C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, and posttraumatic stress disorder symptomology in urban police officers.
Cytokine 2011;
55:74-8. [PMID:
21493089 DOI:
10.1016/j.cyto.2011.03.025]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2010] [Revised: 02/15/2011] [Accepted: 03/24/2011] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Our aim was to examine the relationship between the level of the inflammatory markers, C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomology in a random sample of 115 police officers. CRP was measured in citrated plasma using a particle enhanced immunonepholometric assay and IL-6 was measured in serum with a solid-phase quantitative sandwich ELISA. The presence of high PTSD symptomology was defined as having an Impact of Event Scale score (IES) of ≥ 26 compared to<26 (low PTSD symptomology). 28% of the officers had high PTSD symptomology. Mean levels of CRP and IL-6 did not differ significantly between officers with high PTSD symptomology and those with low symptomology (CRP: 0.76 mg/l vs. 0.97 mg/l; IL-6: 2.03 pg/ml vs. 1.74 pg/ml). We found no association of CRP and IL-6 levels with PTSD symptomology. This study was limited by sample size and its cross-sectional study design. A lack of association may occur if either CRP or IL-6 is elevated only at the onset of PTSD symptomology, or if inflammation is related to specific key components that define PTSD. Further research examining these relationships in a larger population may be worthwhile.
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