Could aspirin help fight depression?

Everyday drugs like aspirin and ibuprofen could help treat depression after scientists found inflammation may influence mental illness, Daily Mail says.

A study at Cambridge University suggest that the immune system plays an important role in mental health by ‘cranking’ up the body’s responses and increasing the risk of subsequent mental illness.

But inflammation-fighting drugs could provide a readily-available, safe and affordable alternative treatment.

Study leader Dr Golam Khandaker from the department of psychiatry at Cambridge University said: ‘Our immune system acts like a thermostat, turned down low most of the time, but cranked up when we have an infection.

‘In some people, the thermostat is always set slightly higher, behaving as if they have a persistent, low-level infection.

‘These people appear at a higher risk of developing depression and psychosis. It’s too early to say whether this association is causal, and we are carrying out additional studies.’

Researchers also warned that children exposed to high levels of infection could be more prone to depression and psychosis when they grow up.

When the immune system is mobilised, the bloodstream is flooded with proteins such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), a tell-tale marker of infection, which help fight and remove it.

Even after recovery the blood carries trace levels of these proteins – known as ‘inflammatory markers’.

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