title: A significant causal association between C-reactive protein levels and schizophrenia.
abstract: Many observational studies have shown elevated blood CRP levels in schizophrenia compared with controls, and one population-based prospective study has reported that elevated plasma CRP levels were associated with late- and very-late-onset schizophrenia. Furthermore, several clinical studies have reported the efficacy of anti-inflammatory drugs on the symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. However, whether elevated CRP levels are causally related to schizophrenia is not still established because of confounding factors and reverse causality. In the present study, we demonstrated that serum CRP levels were significantly higher in patients with schizophrenia than in the controls by conducting a case-control study and a meta-analysis of case-control studies between schizophrenia and serum CRP levels. Furthermore, we provided evidence for a causal association between elevated CRP levels and increased schizophrenia risk by conducting a Mendelian randomization analysis. Our findings suggest that elevated CRP itself may be a causal risk factor for schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Biomedical Science, Tokushima University Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Masatoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Inoshita
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Biomedical Science, Tokushima University Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Shusuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Numata
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Genetics, Institute of Biomedical Science, Tokushima University Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan.|Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tajima
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Biomedical Science, Tokushima University Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kinoshita
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Biomedical Science, Tokushima University Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Hidehiro
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Umehara
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Biomedical Science, Tokushima University Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Masahito
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakataki
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Fujita Health University, Toyoake, Aichi, Japan.
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Osaka Medical College, Takatsuki, Japan.
authors.forename: Souichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maruyama
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Osaka University Graduate school of Medicine, Suita, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Hidenaga
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamamori
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Osaka Medical College, Takatsuki, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsufumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kanazawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Kochi Medical School, Kochi University, Kochi, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shimodera
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Osaka University Graduate school of Medicine, Suita, Osaka, Japan.|Molecular Research Center for Children's Mental Development, United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University Suita, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryota
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Genetics, Institute of Biomedical Science, Tokushima University Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Issei
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Imoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Osaka Medical College, Takatsuki, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoneda
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Fujita Health University, Toyoake, Aichi, Japan.
authors.forename: Nakao
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Iwata
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Biomedical Science, Tokushima University Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohmori
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D044967:Serum / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D002097:C-Reactive Protein