Examination of inflammation and oxidative stress in children and adolescents with anxiety disorders

Objective: Oxidative stress and inflammation may play a role in the etiology of AD. There are not enough studies investigating the effect of AD treatment process on oxidative stress and inflammation. The aim of this study is to evaluate the parameters of inflammation and oxidative stress in children and adolescents with AD and to reveal the effects of the 3-month treatment period on these parameters. Methods: The study included 40 patients (7-17 years old) with AD diagnosis according to DSM-5 criteria and 41 HCs matched for age, gender and socioeconomic status. K-SADS-PL-DSM-5 was used to diagnose AD and exclude other psychiatric disorders. Thiol-disulfide balance, IMA, NO, iNOS, nitrosothiol parameters related to oxidative stress and inflammation related parameters in routine blood tests and acute phase reactants CRP and ESR levels were evaluated. Venous blood samples before starting the treatment of AD patients were compared with HC and the change after 3 months of treatment was examined. Results: Before treatment, disulfide, disulfide/native thiol, disulfide/total thiol, NO and IMA levels related to oxidative stress were found to be significantly higher in AD patients compared to HCs. In addition, plasma native thiol/total thiol levels of AD patients were found to be significantly lower than HCs. NLR, PLR and ESR levels of inflammation markers in AD patients were found to be significantly higher than those in the HC group. After treatment, serum disulfide levels of AD patients decreased significantly. After treatment, CRP and ESR levels of AD patients also decreased significantly. Discussion and Conclusion: As a result, an increase in oxidative stress and inflammation was found in children and adolescents with AD. Besides, it was determined that oxidative stress and inflammation decreased after 3 months of treatment. However, further studies are needed to evaluate the variation between AD treatment and oxidative stress and inflammation. Keywords: Anxiety disorder, child and adolescent, inflammation, oxidative stress, SSRI.