Impact of Surgical Status, Loneliness, and Disability on Interleukin 6, C-Reactive Protein, Cortisol, and Estrogen in Females with Symptomatic Type I Chiari Malformation

Monica A Garcia; Xuan Li; Philip A Allen; Douglas L Delahanty; Maggie S Eppelheimer; James R Houston; Dawn M Johnson; Frank Loth; Jahangir Maleki; Sarel Vorster; Mark G Luciano

doi:10.1007/s12311-021-01251-w

Impact of Surgical Status, Loneliness, and Disability on Interleukin 6, C-Reactive Protein, Cortisol, and Estrogen in Females with Symptomatic Type I Chiari Malformation

Cerebellum. 2021 Dec;20(6):872-886. doi: 10.1007/s12311-021-01251-w. Epub 2021 Mar 6.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychological Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA.
² Department of Psychology, University of Akron, Akron, OH, USA.
³ Department of Psychology, University of Akron, Akron, OH, USA. paallen@uakron.edu.
⁴ Department of Psychological Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA. ddelahanty@kent.edu.
⁵ Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, OH, USA.
⁶ Department of Psychology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, USA.
⁷ Department of Neurology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH, USA.
⁸ Department of Neurological Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH, USA.
⁹ Department of Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, USA.

PMID: 33677786
DOI: 10.1007/s12311-021-01251-w

Abstract

Chiari malformation type I (CMI) provides an opportunity for examining possible moderators of allostatic load. CMI patients who had (n = 43) and had not (n = 19) undergone decompression surgery completed questionnaires regarding pain, disability, and loneliness, and provided serum samples for IL-6, CRP, estrogen, and free estradiol assays, and saliva samples to assess diurnal cortisol curves. ANOVAs examining surgical status (decompressed versus non-decompressed), loneliness (high vs. low), and disability (high vs. low) as independent variables and biomarker variables as dependent factors found that loneliness was associated with higher levels of cortisol, F(1, 37) = 4.91, p = .04, η²_P = .11, and lower levels of estrogen, F(1, 36) = 7.29, p = .01, η²_P = .17, but only in decompressed patients. Results highlight the possible impact of loneliness on biological stress responses and the need to intervene to reduce loneliness in patients with symptomatic CMI.

Keywords: C-Reactive Protein; Chiari malformation; Cortisol; Estrogen; Interleukin 6; Loneliness.

MeSH terms

Arnold-Chiari Malformation*
C-Reactive Protein
Estrogens*
Female
Humans
Hydrocortisone
Interleukin-6*
Loneliness
Treatment Outcome

Substances

Estrogens
Interleukin-6
C-Reactive Protein
Hydrocortisone