불안장애 환자의 임파구 아형

Lymphocyte Subsets in Anxiety Disorder Patients

The demonstration that behavioral states and CNS processes are associated with immune function suggests that there may be a relationship between anxiety and the immune system. Stress and immunity have been studied extensively, but there have been relatively few studies o f anxiety and immunity. This study was done to study immune function in patients with anxiety disorder focusing on lymphocyte subsets. The subjects were 15 patient with anxiety disorder (5 male, 10 female), 6 with generalized anxiety disorder, 4 with panic disorder, 2 with obsessive compulsive disorder, 2 with post traumatic stress disorder and 1 with phobic disorder diagnosed by three psychiatrists according to DSM-III-R criteria. Their average age was 31 ± 11.4 years. They were admitted to Department of Neuropshcyiatry, Seoul Paik Hospital, from December 1988 to February 1991. The control group were 20 normal healthy adults and 15 hospitalized surgical patients. We measured numbers and ratio o f T cell subsets (including helper- T cells and suppressor-T cells) as well as B cells and total lymphocyte counts in all group. The results were as follows : 1) There were significant differences among patients with anxiety disorder, surgical patients and normal control group in the percentage o f T3, T4, B, and R4/T8 ratio, but no significant differences in number of total lymphocyte, T lymphocyte and percentage of T4. 2) In the each significant group of T3, T4, T4/T8 ratio and B % ； i) The percentage of T8 in patients with anxiety disorder decreased(p<C05) compared with the normal control and the T4/T8 ratio in creased(p< .05). The percentage o f T3 was not significantly different. ii) The percentage of B lymphocyte in anxiety disorder increased(p<.0l) compared with the normal control. iii) There was statistically significant difference between surgical patients and normal control group. Statistically, surgical patients were nearly consistent with anxiety disorder group. 3) In conclusion, there are statistically significant changes in the celluar and humoral lymphocyte immune function in patients with anxiety disorder, but further evaluation and more studies should be done to gain further information.