Effect of Venlafaxine on Inflammatory Level in Patients with Depression

Background: Venlafaxine is widely applied to treat depression. Herein, we further explore the effect of venlafaxine on inflammatory level in patients with depression. Methods: Retrospectively, the medical data of patients (from January 2020 to February 2023, following up for 1 year) with depression (n=134) and without depression (health group, n=63) were collected. According to different treatment methods, patients with depression were categorized into the venlafaxine group (n=71) and the fluoxetine group (n=63). After treatment 8 weeks and 1 year, the baseline characteristics, therapeutic effect, inflammatory level and adverse events were analyzed. Results: After treatment 8 weeks and 1 year, there were significant improvements about depression and inflammatory level in venlafaxine group and fluoxetine group ( P< 0.05), showing as the obvious decreases of Hamilton depression scale-17 (HAMD-17) score, C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-4, IL-6 and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR). Furthermore, the improvements of depression and inflammatory level were obvious in venlafaxine group than those of in fluoxetine group ( P< 0.05). There was no significant difference about adverse events between venlafaxine group and fluoxetine group. Conclusion: In this study, venlafaxine use was associated with improvement in depressive symptoms and correlated with reduced levels of inflammatory markers in patients with depression. Keywords: depression, venlafaxine, inflammatory level, therapeutic effect, Hamilton depression scale-17