The period of the Christmas holidays is about to end. A period certainly intense and full of emotions. We are then told that at Christmas “you are better”, which is the most beautiful period of the year and that therefore you have to be happy, but in reality for many people it is not really like that.
There are currents of thought, research and studies sometimes contrasting that the Christmas holidays period is related toincreased malaiseand above all depression gives no respite even in this in the period of the year.
And this year, in addition to the stressful aspects that concern the difficulties and relational obligations that can even emerge in this period, the economic crisis has also done its part.
A survey published in Independent last December concluded that about one man out of two of the sample of 140 people interviewed is heard depressed or sad during the Christmas period, also for the increase in economic concerns (which are certainly associated with the costs for gifts). Other research shows how at Christmas you spend sometimes more than what you can afford.
But if the mood problems may not give respite even in the “party” periods, research on how face depression It doesn’t stop. At the end of 2014, on the important Jama Psychiatry magazine (Journal of the American Medical Association), the results of a study were published that highlights how some treatments based on anti -inflammatory drugs may have antidepressant effects.
It is a new systematic revision of randomized clinical studies and conducted by a team of researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark and other Danish, American and Canadian academic institutes.
Scientists analyzed a total of 14 international studies published before 31 December 2013. In particular, ten of these studies concerned the use of non -steroidal anti -inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), both in monotherapy and as an additional treatment, and four cytokines in monotherapy inhibitors, for a total of 6,262 patients involved.
The objectives of the Meta-analysis were both the study of antidepressant effects of anti -inflammatory therapies is the evaluation of the possible negative effects of these treatments in adults with depression or with depressive symptoms.
The investigations on the concomitant use of antidepressants and anti -inflammatory agents are of great public interest today, since these, in particular, the non -steroidal anti -inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are often used by patients treated with antidepressantsprobably because of the correlation between depression and pain.
The analysis examined all the evidence emerged from clinical studies that investigated the eventual improving action of anti -inflammatory treatments on depressive symptomsregardless of whether the anti -inflammatory treatment had been used alone or as an additional therapy.
The estimated combined effects that emerged from the meta-analysis suggest that fans reduce depressive symptoms compared to placebo. This effect was observed in the studies where adult patients with depression or with individual depressive symptoms were involved.
The conclusion of the review It also suggests that the anti -inflammatory treatment reduces depressive symptoms without increasing risk of adverse effects. However, the high level of heterogeneity of the samples examined, the type of depression, the somatic comorbilities and the type of treatment make the average estimate that is not certain: according to the researchers themselves, the results of the study should be interpreted with caution.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), depression represents one of the main reasons for worsening the quality of life and in 2020 it will be the most widespread in the world among mental diseases and, in general, the second disease after cardiovascular pathologies.
It is therefore a very serious disorder, which pushes scientists around the world to constantly seek new treatments. In recent years, several research has supported one correlation between depression and physical diseasessuch as painful conditions or inflammatory states in individual patients.
“Meta-analysis supports this correlation and also shows that i anti -inflammatory drugs, in combination with antidepressantscan have an effect on treatment of depression.
When combined, these drugs give an important result that, in the long term, increases the possibility of being able to provide the individual patient more personalized treatment options, “said Ole Köhler, the first author of the article published in Jama Psychiatry and member of the research group of Aarhus University.
