Metabolic function in patients with bipolar depression receiving anti-inflammatory agents: Findings from the MINDCARE study, a multicentre, randomised controlled trial

• Published in: Journal of affective disorders Vol. 299; pp. 135 - 141
• Main Authors: Kloiber, Stefan, Jones, Brett D.M., Hodsoll, John, Chaudhry, Imran B., Khoso, Ameer B., Husain, M. Omair, Ortiz, Abigail, Goldstein, Benjamin I., Husain, Nusrat, Mulsant, Benoit H., Young, Allan H., Husain, M. Ishrat
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 15.02.2022
• Subjects: Adult; Anti-Inflammatory Agents - therapeutic use; Bipolar depression; Bipolar Disorder - drug therapy; Body Mass Index; Clinical trial; Humans; Inflammation; Low to middle income country; Metabolic health; Minocycline - therapeutic use; Obesity; Waist Circumference; Obesity; Clinical trial; Low to middle income country; Inflammation; Bipolar depression; Metabolic health
• ISSN: 0165-0327; 1573-2517
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2021.11.032

•Exploration of metabolic variables in a sample of depressed bipolar patients in Pakistan.•Low BMI and WC were associated with higher depression severity.•Metabolic variables did not modulate antidepressant effect of anti-inflammatory drugs.•Future research should further evaluate initial findings and include patients from underrepresented populations. Metabolic dysfunction is prevalent in bipolar disorder (BD) and associated with illness severity and treatment outcomes. There is little research exploring this relationship in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) and little is known about the moderating effect of metabolic health on treatment response to anti-inflammatory drugs in BD. MINDCARE, a randomized-controlled-trial conducted in Pakistan, investigated the efficacy of minocycline and celecoxib in 266 adults with bipolar depression. This secondary analysis evaluated the association between depression severity at baseline and treatment outcome with metabolic parameters including body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure (s-BP), and diastolic blood pressure (d-BP). Depression severity was measured using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-17. The exploratory aim was to assess whether treatment impacted change in metabolic variables. Associations were evaluated using linear regression. Higher BMI (B=-0.38, 95%CI: -0.55 to -0.21) and WC (B=-0.68, 95%CI: -0.97 to -0.39) were associated with lower baseline depression severity in both the unadjusted and the adjusted models. Baseline metabolic parameters were not associated with treatment response to minocycline or celecoxib nor did treatment significantly impact metabolic variables. Our sample represents patients in an RCT and may not be fully representative of the overall BD population in Pakistan. Our findings indicate a potential association of poor metabolic health and lower severity of bipolar depression but not treatment outcomes. Future work should evaluate potential relationships of metabolic parameters and BD in diverse populations to increase the transferability of this line of work.