Paranoid Hostility but Not Depressive Symptoms Associated with Cytokines During the Premenstrual Phase in Young Women

It is well known that some women, during their premenstrual phase, express Hostility (Ho) and Depressive symptoms (De). Various studies indicate that Ho and De correlate with circulating concentrations of cytokines. These data support the hypothesis of an inflammation-sensitive mechanism linked to certain psychological states. The aim of this study was to correlate Ho and De with selective proinflammatory cytokines during the menstrual cycle in young women. Twenty-two physically healthy medical students, mean age 22.95+2.83(SD), were studied. All reported regular menses that ranged between 27-33 days. Blood was drawn three times across a single cycle: at follicular phase (FL), at mid luteal phase (ML) and at late luteal phase (LL) corresponding to the premenstrual phase. The following proinflammatory cytokines were determined at each sample: Interleukin 8 (IL-8), Interleukin 6 (IL-6), Interleukin 1α (IL-1α), and Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α). Immediately before blood sampling the women completed the Zung self-rating depression scale and the hostility and direction of hostility questionnaire (HDHQ), which comprises five subscales: urge to act out hostility, criticism of others, paranoid hostility, self-criticism and delusional guilt. Spearman’s rank correlation was used to determine the relation between variables at the specific time points; ρ<0.05 was considered significant. Mean values of cytokines did not change significantly throughout the menstrual cycle. Paranoid hostility was positively correlated with IL-8 (Rs=0.476, p=0.046), IL-1α (Rs=0.458, p=0.048) and TNF-α (Rs=0.518, p=0.023) in LLphase. No other significant correlation was found. Cytokines correlate with paranoid hostility and this correlation is probably related with the premenstrual hormonal changes. It is difficult to evaluate the clinical significance of our findings, nevertheless, when exploring the above association, it is necessary to take into consideration the phase of the cycle as well as the special aspects of Ho we seek to study.