ArticleEuropean archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience2021
Increased peripheral inflammation in schizophrenia is associated with worse cognitive performance and related cortical thickness reductions.
Article in European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 67 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assessing the prevalence of cognitive impairment among Australians with schizophrenia: A systematic review.The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Importance of the dysregulation of the kynurenine pathway on cognition in schizophrenia: a systematic review of clinical studies.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2023Pooled it
- The relationship between immune and cognitive dysfunction in mood and psychotic disorder: a systematic review and a meta-analysis.Molecular psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- The Effect of Electroconvulsive and Magnetic Seizure Therapy (MST) on Cortical Thickness in Schizophrenia.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2025Trial
- The NLRP3 inflammasome: pathophysiology and therapeutic implications for schizophrenia and neuropsychiatric disorders.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- Article
- Premature aging in serious mental illness.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Review
- Disturbed Functional Connectivity Between Anterior Default Mode and Sensory Processing Regions Is Linked to Peripheral Inflammatory Markers and Psychopathology in Schizophrenia.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2026Article
- Cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia: association with peripheral blood inflammatory signatures.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Childhood trauma and inflammatory biomarker effects on cortical thinning in schizophrenia spectrum disorders.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Article
- The Causal Relationships Between Inflammatory Proteins, Brain Structure, and Psychiatric Disorders: A Two-Step Mendelian Randomization Analysis.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2025Article
- Review
- Thinning of the temporal and insular cortex is associated with negative symptoms and impaired attention in Chinese chronic schizophrenia patients with deficit syndrome.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Metabolic Syndrome and Schizophrenia: Adding a Piece to the Interplay Between the Kynurenine Pathway and Inflammation.Metabolites · 2025Review
- Lithium, Inflammation and Neuroinflammation with Emphasis on Bipolar Disorder-A Narrative Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Neuroinflammation and kynurenines in schizophrenia: Impact on cognition depending on cognitive functioning and modulatory properties in relation to cognitive remediation and aerobic exercise.Schizophrenia research. Cognition · 2024Article
- Negative symptoms and neurocognition in drug-naïve schizophrenia: moderating role of plasma neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) and interferon-gamma (INF-γ).European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2024Article
- Genetic Overlap Between Global Cortical Brain Structure, C-Reactive Protein, and White Blood Cell Counts.Biological psychiatry · 2024Article
- Higher Levels of C-reactive Protein Are Associated With Higher Cortical Surface Area and Lower Cortical Thickness in Youth With Bipolar Disorder.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2023Article
- The effects of cytomegalovirus on brain structure following sport-related concussion.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
While the biological substrates of brain and behavioural changes in persons with schizophrenia remain unclear, increasing evidence implicates that inflammation is involved. In schizophrenia, including first-episode psychosis and anti-psychotic naïve patients, there are numerous reports of increased peripheral inflammation, cognitive deficits and neuropathologies such as cortical thinning. Research defining the relationship between inflammation and schizophrenia symptomatology and neuropathology is needed. Therefore, we analysed the level of C-reactive protein (CRP), a peripheral inflammation marker, and its relationship with cognitive functioning in a cohort of 644 controls and 499 schizophrenia patients. In a subset of individuals who underwent MRI scanning (99 controls and 194 schizophrenia cases), we tested if serum CRP was associated with cortical thickness. CRP was significantly increased in schizophrenia patients compared to controls, co-varying for age, sex, overweight/obesity and diabetes (p < 0.006E-10). In schizophrenia, increased CRP was mildly associated with worse performance in attention, controlling for age, sex and education (R =- 0.15, p = 0.001). Further, increased CRP was associated with reduced cortical thickness in three regions related to attention: the caudal middle frontal, the pars opercularis and the posterior cingulate cortices, which remained significant after controlling for multiple comparisons (all p < 0.05). Together, these findings indicate that increased peripheral inflammation is associated with deficits in cognitive function and brain structure in schizophrenia, especially reduced attention and reduced cortical thickness in associated brain regions. Using CRP as a biomarker of peripheral inflammation in persons with schizophrenia may help to identify vulnerable patients and those that may benefit from adjunctive anti-inflammatory treatments.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.