Objective: To investigate the correlation between intestinal flora and serum inflammatory factors IL-1, IL-2, IL-6 and hs-CRP in post-stroke depression (PSD) in ischemic stroke patients.
Study design: Observational study. Study Place and Duration of Study: Jiulongpo District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chongqing City, China, from October 2018 to May 2020.
Methodology: One hundred and sixty-three patients with ischemic stroke were divided into Group A (PSD) and Group B (no PSD), according to whether they had PSD. Intestinal flora indexes (Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli and Bifidobacterium) and serum IL-1, IL-2, IL-6 and hs-CRP were detected.
Results: Among 163 patients with ischemic stroke, 67 (41.10%) had PSD (Group A) and 96 (58.90%) had no PSD (Group B). Contents of Enterococcus faecalis and Escherichia coli in Group A were higher than those in Group B (both p <0.001), and content of Bifidobacterium in Group A was lower than that in Group B (p <0.001). Serum IL-1, IL-2, IL-6 and hs-CRP levels in Group A were higher than those in Group B (all p <0.001). Pearson correlation test showed that contents of Enterococcus faecalis and Escherichia coli in Group A were positively correlated with IL-1, IL-2, IL-6 and hs-CRP, and content of Bifidobacterium was negatively correlated with IL-1, IL-2, IL-6 and hs-CRP.
Conclusion: There are intestinal flora imbalance and Bifidobacterium undergrowth in patients with PSD, which can lead to overexpression of serum inflammatory factors. Both may be involved in occurrence and progress of PSD in patients with ischemic stroke. Key Words: Ischemic stroke, Post-stroke depression (PSD), Intestinal flora, Inflammatory factors.