Influência dos níveis plasmáticos de mediadores inflamatórios nos sintomas depressivos em idosas da comunidade

Abstract

Introduction: The growing number of elderly people is now a global reality, and in Brazil, population aging process is remarkable. Another observed demographic phenomenon is the concentration of women in this age group, called feminization of aging process. It is known that aging is accompanied by an increase in plasma levels of inflammatory mediators and that this has a significant association with negative outcomes for older people. In these individuals, depression appears as one of the most prevalent psychiatric conditions and studies indicate association between depressive symptoms and changes in the production of inflammatory mediators. Objective: To investigate the relationship between plasma levels of inflammatory mediators sTNFR1, sTNFR2, IL-6 and IL-10 and depressive symptoms in the elderly community. Methods: A cross-sectional, observational study involving 449 elderly community. To characterize the sample, a questionnaire through an interview for sociodemographic and functional clinical survey was applied. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and plasma levels of inflammatory mediators were measured by ELISA. To investigate the relationship between depressive symptoms and levels of inflammatory mediators the Mann Whitney test was used for comparison among elderly with and without positive screening for depression, the existence of correlation was verified by the Spearman's coefficient, considering a significance level of 5%. Results: There was no significant difference between plasma levels of inflammatory mediators among elderly women with and without screening positive for depression, and there was no correlation between GDS scores with dosages of mediators analyzed in the sample. Conclusion: Plasma levels of inflammatory mediators sTNFR1, sTNFR2, IL-6 and IL-10 had no effect on depressive symptoms in community elderly. These results can be explained by the fact that the sample was composed of elderly women with good clinical condition and functionally independent.