Anti-ribosomal Pantibodies related to depression in early clinical course of systemic lupus erythematosus

Mansoor Karimifar, Iman Sharifi, Katayoun Shafiey

Abstract


Background: Diagnosis and treatment of neuropsychiatric lupus is still a major challenge in clinical practice. We investigated
the association between depression and anti-ribosomal P (anti-P) antibodies in a sample of Iranian patients with systemic lupus
erythematosus (SLE). Materials and Methods: Th is cross-sectional study was conducted on adult patients with SLE referring to
a referral out-patient clinic of rheumatology. Demographic data and clinical data with regards to measuring disease activity with
the systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index were gathered. Anti-P antibodies were measured with the enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assay method. Depression severity was measured by the Beck Depression Inventory-II. Results: One hundred
patients (80% female and 20% male, age = 34.8 ± 10.9 years) were included. Anti-P antibodies were present more frequently in
depressed than non-depressed patients (30% vs. 10%, P = 0.015). Depression severity was correlated with anti-P antibodies level only
in patients with disease duration of less than 2 years (r = 0.517, P = 0.019). Th ere was no association between the depression severity
and disease activity. Binary logistic regression analysis showed age (B = 0.953, CI 95%: 0.914-0.993) and positive anti-P antibodies (B = 4.30, CI 95%: 1.18-15.59) as factors that independently associated with depression. Conclusion: We found an association between depression and presence of anti-P antibodies, and also strong correlation between depression severity and anti-P antibodies level
in newly diagnosed SLE patients. Depression severity in newly diagnosed SLE patients may refl ect a neuropsychiatric involvement,and in later phases, it is more aff ected by the chronicity of the disease as well as other environmental factors.

Key words: Autoantibody, depression, neuropsychiatric, ribosomal proteins, systemic lupus erythematosus

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