Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibody positive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have higher serum cytokine concentrations than those without PTSD, demonstrating that systemic inflammation characteristic of RA is heightened in the context of this relatively common psychiatric comorbidity. This according to a study that aimed to explore whether PTSD might influence disease-related measures of systemic inflammation in RA. Participants were US veterans with RA and were categorized as having PTSD, other forms of depression/anxiety, or neither based on administrative diagnostic codes. Researchers found:

• Among 1,460 RA subjects with mean (SD) age of 64 (11) years and disease duration of 11 (11) years, 91% were male, 77% anti-CCP positive, and 80% ever smokers.
• Of these, 11.6% had PTSD, 23.7% other depression/anxiety, and 64.7% had neither.
• PTSD, but not depression/anxiety, was associated with a higher cytokine score and number of high-concentration analytes in adjusted models, though this was limited to anti-CCP positive subjects.