Elevated C-reactive Protein Levels in Women with Bipolar Disorder may be Explained by a History of Childhood Trauma, Especially Sexual Abuse, Body Mass Index and Age

Objective and Background: To evaluate whether increased levels of high-sensitivity C- reactive protein (hs-CRP) observed in individuals with bipolar disorder (BD) compared to healthy controls (HCs) could be influenced by a previous exposure to early life stress (ELS) independently from other explanatory or background variables, including age, body mass index (BMI), and the presence of cooccurring mental disorders. Keywords: Bipolar disorder, childhood sexual abuse, C-reactive protein, depression, early life stress, immune activation, inflammation.