Globulin levels in acute and chronic psychotic patients

Abstract

Background : A number of studies suggest that psychiatric symptoms, particularly at early stages of the illness, may be alleviated by targeting affected peripheral pathways such as the immune/inflammatory system. [1] [2] Objective: To analyze globulin levels in acute and chronic psychotic patients. Materials and methods: To 141 hospitalized patients (92 male and 49 female, 94 diagnosed with acute psychotic disorder (F20.0,F21,F23,F25), 47 diagnosed with chronic psychotic disorder (F20.5) according to ICD-10 criteria in Psychiatric Hospital Skopje, Macedonia, globulin test was performed [3]. All patients were aged 18-62 years (mean age, 40 years). Reference range for calculated globulin (CG) was from 27 to 35g/L. Comparative data analysis was applied. Results: From 94 acute psychotic patients (61 male and 33 female), 60 patients (37 male and 23 female) or 63,8% had low CG. In chronic psychotic group, from 47 patients (31 male and 16 female), 18 patients ( 11 male and 7 female) or 38,3% had high CG There were no patients with high CG in acute psychotic group and no patients with low CG in chronic psychotic group. Conclusions: Some findings suggest that innate immunity may be depressed early in the course of a psychotic illness and elevated later in the schizophrenia disease process [4]. While there have been significant advances in our understanding of basic neuroscience over the years, this has not translated into psychiatric clinical practice.