Self-Rated Health and Inflammation: A Test of Depression and Sleep Quality as Mediators

Objective: Despite its simplicity, single-item measures of self-rated health have been associated with mortality independent of objective health conditions. However, little is known about the mechanisms potentially responsible for such associations. This study tested the association between self-rated heath and inflammatory markers as biological pathways, and whether sleep quality and/or depression statistically mediated such links. Method: Eighty-six heterosexual married couples completed a standard measure of self-rated health, the Center of Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Participants also had blood drawn for determination of plasma levels of interleukin 6 and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. The Monte Carlo method was used to construct confidence intervals for mediation analyses. Results: Results indicated that poor self-rated health was associated with higher CRP levels (B = .31, SE = .14, p = .028). Importantly, the Monte Carlo mediational analyses showed that these results were statistically mediated by sleep quality (aXb = 0.10, 95% confidence interval = 0.003 to 0.217) but not depressive symptoms (aXb = 0.03, 95% confidence interval = −0.03 to 0.10). Conclusions: These results highlight the biological and behavioral mechanisms potentially linking self-rated health to longer-term health outcomes. Such work can inform basic theory in the area as well as intervention approaches that target such pathways

Correction: Antidepressant and Neurocognitive Effects of Isoflurane Anesthesia versus Electroconvulsive Therapy in Refractory Depression.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0069809.]

Antidepressant and neurocognitive effects of isoflurane anesthesia versus electroconvulsive therapy in refractory depression.

BACKGROUND:Many patients have serious depression that is nonresponsive to medications, but refuse electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Early research suggested that isoflurane anesthesia may be an effective alternative to ECT. Subsequent studies altered drug, dose or number of treatments, and failed to replicate this success, halting research on isoflurane's antidepressant effects for a decade. Our aim was to re-examine whether isoflurane has antidepressant effects comparable to ECT, with less adverse effects on cognition. METHOD:Patients with medication-refractory depression received an average of 10 treatments of bifrontal ECT (n = 20) or isoflurane (n = 8) over 3 weeks. Depression severity (Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression-24) and neurocognitive responses (anterograde and retrograde memory, processing speed and verbal fluency) were assessed at Pretreatment, Post all treatments and 4-week Follow-up. RESULTS:Both treatments produced significant reductions in depression scores at Post-treatment and 4-week Follow-up; however, ECT had modestly better antidepressant effect at follow-up in severity-matched patients. Immediately Post-treatment, ECT (but not isoflurane) patients showed declines in memory, fluency, and processing speed. At Follow-up, only autobiographical memory remained below Pretreatment level for ECT patients, but isoflurane patients had greater test-retest neurocognitive score improvement. CONCLUSIONS:Our data reconfirm that isoflurane has an antidepressant effect approaching ECT with less adverse neurocognitive effects, and reinforce the need for a larger clinical trial

Self-administered mindfulness interventions reduce stress in a large, randomized controlled multi-site study

Mindfulness witnessed a substantial popularity surge in the past decade, especially as digitally self-administered interventions became available at relatively low costs. Yet, it is uncertain whether they effectively help reduce stress. In a preregistered (OSF https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/UF4JZ; retrospective registration at ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06308744) multi-site study (nsites = 37, nparticipants = 2,239, 70.4% women, Mage = 22.4, s.d.age = 10.1, all fluent English speakers), we experimentally tested whether four single, standalone mindfulness exercises effectively reduced stress, using Bayesian mixed-effects models. All exercises proved to be more efficacious than the active control. We observed a mean difference of 0.27 (d = −0.56; 95% confidence interval, −0.43 to −0.69) between the control condition (M = 1.95, s.d. = 0.50) and the condition with the largest stress reduction (body scan: M = 1.68, s.d. = 0.46). Our findings suggest that mindfulness may be beneficial for reducing self-reported short-term stress for English speakers from higher-income countries

Scores on Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD-24) at Pretreatment), 24–48 hours after the last treatment (Post-treatment) and at 4-week Follow-up.

<p>Treatment with ECT and ISO result in significant decreases in HRSD-24 depressive symptoms at both Post-treatment and Follow-up compared to Pretreatment. No significant group differences were seen at Post-treatment, but ECT-Matched maintained these low scores better than ISO at Follow-up. <b>+</b> ECT-All vs. ISO p<0.05, <b>&</b> ECT-Matched vs. ISO p<0.05, <b>*</b>Within-group ECT-All Change from Pretreatment p<0.001, <b>#</b> Within-group ECT-Matched Change from Pretreatment p<0.01, <b>@</b> Within-group ISO Change from Pretreatment p<0.005 at Post-treatment and p<0.05 at Follow-up.</p