A new study in the American Journal of Psychiatry suggests that anti-inflammatory medications can reduce depressive symptoms and anhedonia in patients with depression who also show elevated levels of inflammation.
Research over the past two decades has linked chronic, low-grade inflammation to depression in some individuals. However, clinical trials testing anti-inflammatory treatments have produced mixed results.
The study’s authors said these inconsistent findings may stem from trials not focusing on patients with active immune dysfunction. “If there is no inflammation to begin with, anti-inflammatory medication won’t be very helpful,” the researchers noted in a press release.
To investigate, the team analyzed data from 11 randomized controlled trials of anti-inflammatory treatments. They specifically assessed depressive symptom severity and anhedonia in participants with an inflammatory profile or elevated baseline inflammatory biomarkers.
Results showed that patients with higher levels of inflammation experienced significant reductions in both depressive symptoms and anhedonia when taking anti-inflammatory medications. The effects were consistent across clinical, interventional, and demographic characteristics.
The researchers cautioned that these findings are preliminary due to small sample sizes, limited study numbers, and varying effect sizes. Nevertheless, they concluded that anti-inflammatory treatments appear safe and effective for reducing depressive symptoms in patients with inflammatory depression.
The review also provides guidance for future trials aimed at generating high-quality evidence to inform depression treatments. The researchers emphasized the need for better immune biomarkers to identify patients most likely to benefit and for therapies that selectively target dysfunctional inflammatory pathways.
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