According to a Birmingham University study, a childhood infection or illness that lasts a long time may contribute to mental disease later in life.
It was discovered that nine-year-old children with elevated inflammatory markers had a five-fold increased risk of developing schizophrenia or psychosis.
The study, which was published in the medical journal Jama Psychiatry, also found that they had an increased risk of diabetes and depression.
The authors speculated that future research may result in treatments for psychiatric disorders that can be prevented.
Researchers made use of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (Alspac), a database that has tracked thousands of individuals since birth and was established in the 1990s.
Participants’ c-reactive protein (CRP), an indicator of inflammation, was assessed at nine, fifteen, and seventeen years of age.
The study discovered a substantial correlation between psychosis and depression in later life and low-level elevated CRP in youngsters as young as nine; however, this correlation did not hold true when the children were 15 or 17 years old.
Because low-grade inflammation causes brain immune cells to change form through a process known as microglia activation, it is believed that low-grade inflammation, which peaks at nine years of age, may have an impact later on the central nervous system.
Finding the causes of the inflammation was the next step, according to lead author Edward Palmer.
These could be inherited, the result of an illness in childhood, or stem from stress, worry, or trauma—all of which can raise CRP.
To find out if anti-inflammatories could benefit individuals with schizophrenia and psychosis, Mr. Palmer is currently undertaking a second trial.
According to him, knowing how inflammation affects mental health may be just as crucial as knowing how it affects cancer back in the 1970s.
He went on to say that this phenomena might be linked to a rise in allergies and autoimmune diseases as well as long-term alterations to the bacteria that live in the human gut.
