Anxiety is associated with systemic pro-inflammatory profile and plasma lipid changes in Mexican young adults

Introduction: Systemic inflammation and altered lipid metabolism have been implicated in anxiety disorders, but the relationship between circulating cytokines, plasma lipid species and symptom severity remains unclear. Methods: We studied 34 young adults (17 healthy controls, 17 with clinician-confirmed anxiety; age 21-27 years). Anxiety severity was assessed with standardized clinical instruments. Plasma cytokines were quantified by multiplex immunoassay and targeted lipid profiling was performed by mass spectrometry. Group comparisons used nonparametric tests (Mann-Whitney U), and associations were examined with Spearman correlations and robust regression models appropriate for nonparametric data. Results: Compared with controls, individuals with anxiety showed elevated plasma IL-6, MCP-1 and TNF-α and reduced IL-17A. Targeted lipidomics detected no group differences in total ceramides, dihydroceramides, hexosylceramides or lactosylceramides; nominal reductions were observed for DG 18:2/22:4, DG 18:2/22:6, LPC 24:1 and TG 60:11 (FA 22:5). None of the lipid species correlated with anxiety severity, and combined lipid-cytokine regression models failed to identify independent lipid predictors. MCP-1 and TNF-α showed associations with anxiety severity that were restricted to the clinical group. (All results are presented as unadjusted values; lipid findings did not remain significant after correction for multiple testing.). Discussion: The data indicate a reproducible pro-inflammatory signal in clinical anxiety and point to modest, exploratory alterations in selected glycerolipids and lysophospholipids that require validation. These results should be considered hypothesis-generating; larger, longitudinal studies are needed to determine causality and the clinical relevance of immunometabolic signatures in anxiety.