Serum ceramide concentrations are associated with depression in patients after ischemic stroke-A two-center case-controlled study

Background and aims The present study aims to correlate the severity of post-stroke depression (PSD) and serum ceramide concentration. Materials and methods In this two-center case-control study, we prospectively collected clinical and demographical information from age and gender-matched 51 PSD patients, 56 non-post-stroke depression (Non-PSD) patients, and 39 patients with major depression (MD) to perform the suitable biochemical analysis to bring a correlation in causing depression in patients soon after the stroke. The ROC curve method was used to evaluate ceramide’s diagnostic efficacy in all three groups of patients. A follow-up analysis was also conducted based on PSD severity to associate serum ceramide levels and neuropsychiatric symptoms. The severity of the patient's depressive symptoms was assessed by using the self-rating depression scale (SDS). Results In comparison between PSD and MD patients, three serum ceramide species were found to be significantly different. Compared with Non-PSD patients, PSD patients had significantly higher levels of all the four serum ceramides, and increasing levels ofC16:0, C18:0(VS MD) and C16: 0(VS Non-PSD) serve as a diagnostic tool and an independent risk factor in all three categories of patients. Moreover, the follow-up analysis results showed that, as the treatment progressed, the differences in the 3 serum ceramide species were statistically significant. Conclusion There was a stage-specific association between serum ceramides and PSD, and the potential pathophysiological mechanism has to be investigated in future research.