Evaluation of serum interleukin-5 levels among Bangladeshi obsessive-compulsive disorder patients

Abstract

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a prevalent, chronic, neuropsychiatric condition in-creasingly linked to immune-inflammatory mechanisms. This study aimed to measure serum IL-5 levels in Bangladeshi OCD individuals and to examine their association with symptom severity. The study was conducted at Government National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) & Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Total number of samples were 428 participants including 220 OCD individu-als and 208 healthy persons. Diagnoses were confirmed using DSM-5 criteria. On the other hand, Y-BOCS evaluated symptom severity. A standardized laboratory procedure was followed to meas-ure serum IL-5 levels. Statistical analysis was performed to compare the groups and assess corre-lation. Serum IL-5 level comparisons demonstrated slightly higher mean IL-5 levels in OCD pa-tients than controls (2.43±1.19 pg/ml vs 2.17±1.12 pg/ml). A substantial difference was found (P=0.020). However, the correlation between serum IL-5 levels and Y-BOCS scores was weakly negative (r =-0.076) and not significant (P=0.262). In addition, substantial variability and overlap were observed between the two groups. In conclusion, although IL-5 levels are somewhat elevated in Bangladeshi OCD patients, no significant association with OCD symptom severity was identi-fied. This research describes that IL-5’s implication is limited as a single biomarker. This limitation highlights the need for further research involving multiple immune biomarkers.