Seasonality of blood neopterin levels in the Old Order Amish
Mohyuddin Hira,
Georgiou Polymnia,
Wadhawan Abhishek,
Daue Melanie L.,
Brenner Lisa A.,
Gragnoli Claudia,
Saunders Erika F.H.,
Fuchs Dietmar,
Lowry Christopher A.,
Postolache Teodor T.
Affiliations
Mohyuddin Hira
Mood and Anxiety Program, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
Georgiou Polymnia
Mood and Anxiety Program, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
Wadhawan Abhishek
Mood and Anxiety Program, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
Daue Melanie L.
Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Nutrition, Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
Brenner Lisa A.
Departments of Psychiatry, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Neurology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA
Gragnoli Claudia
Division of Endocrinology, Translational Medicine, Department of Medicine, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Saunders Erika F.H.
Department of Psychiatry, Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA, USA
Fuchs Dietmar
Division of Biological Chemistry, Biocenter, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria
Lowry Christopher A.
Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 19, Denver, CO, USA
Postolache Teodor T.
Mood and Anxiety Program, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
Seasonal changes in non-human animals and seasonal affective disorder (SAD) in humans are associated with immune activation in winter relative to summer. We intended to measure seasonal variation in neopterin, a marker of cellular immunity, and its interactions with gender and seasonality of mood. We studied 320 Amish from Lancaster, PA, USA (men=128; 40%) with an average age [Standard deviation (SD)] of 56.7 (13.9) years. Blood neopterin level was measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Seasonality was measured with Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ). Statistical analysis included analysis of covariance (ANCOVAs) and multivariate linear regression. We also investigated interactions of seasonal differences in neopterin with gender, seasonality scores and estimation of SAD diagnosis. We found a significantly higher neopterin level in winter than in summer (p=0.006). There were no significant gender or seasonality interactions. Our study confirmed the hypothesized higher neopterin level in winter. A cross sectional design was our major limitation. If this finding will be replicated by longitudinal studies in multiple groups, neopterin could be used to monitor immune status across seasons in demographically diverse samples, even if heterogeneous in gender distribution, and degree of seasonality of mood.
