Focus groups.
An official website of the United States government
The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.
The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.
Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .
Shazia jamshed.
Department of Pharmacy Practice, Kulliyyah of Pharmacy, International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuantan Campus, Pahang, Malaysia
Buckley and Chiang define research methodology as “a strategy or architectural design by which the researcher maps out an approach to problem-finding or problem-solving.”[ 1 ] According to Crotty, research methodology is a comprehensive strategy ‘that silhouettes our choice and use of specific methods relating them to the anticipated outcomes,[ 2 ] but the choice of research methodology is based upon the type and features of the research problem.[ 3 ] According to Johnson et al . mixed method research is “a class of research where the researcher mixes or combines quantitative and qualitative research techniques, methods, approaches, theories and or language into a single study.[ 4 ] In order to have diverse opinions and views, qualitative findings need to be supplemented with quantitative results.[ 5 ] Therefore, these research methodologies are considered to be complementary to each other rather than incompatible to each other.[ 6 ]
Qualitative research methodology is considered to be suitable when the researcher or the investigator either investigates new field of study or intends to ascertain and theorize prominent issues.[ 6 , 7 ] There are many qualitative methods which are developed to have an in depth and extensive understanding of the issues by means of their textual interpretation and the most common types are interviewing and observation.[ 7 ]
This is the most common format of data collection in qualitative research. According to Oakley, qualitative interview is a type of framework in which the practices and standards be not only recorded, but also achieved, challenged and as well as reinforced.[ 8 ] As no research interview lacks structure[ 9 ] most of the qualitative research interviews are either semi-structured, lightly structured or in-depth.[ 9 ] Unstructured interviews are generally suggested in conducting long-term field work and allow respondents to let them express in their own ways and pace, with minimal hold on respondents’ responses.[ 10 ]
Pioneers of ethnography developed the use of unstructured interviews with local key informants that is., by collecting the data through observation and record field notes as well as to involve themselves with study participants. To be precise, unstructured interview resembles a conversation more than an interview and is always thought to be a “controlled conversation,” which is skewed towards the interests of the interviewer.[ 11 ] Non-directive interviews, form of unstructured interviews are aimed to gather in-depth information and usually do not have pre-planned set of questions.[ 11 ] Another type of the unstructured interview is the focused interview in which the interviewer is well aware of the respondent and in times of deviating away from the main issue the interviewer generally refocuses the respondent towards key subject.[ 11 ] Another type of the unstructured interview is an informal, conversational interview, based on unplanned set of questions that are generated instantaneously during the interview.[ 11 ]
In contrast, semi-structured interviews are those in-depth interviews where the respondents have to answer preset open-ended questions and thus are widely employed by different healthcare professionals in their research. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews are utilized extensively as interviewing format possibly with an individual or sometimes even with a group.[ 6 ] These types of interviews are conducted once only, with an individual or with a group and generally cover the duration of 30 min to more than an hour.[ 12 ] Semi-structured interviews are based on semi-structured interview guide, which is a schematic presentation of questions or topics and need to be explored by the interviewer.[ 12 ] To achieve optimum use of interview time, interview guides serve the useful purpose of exploring many respondents more systematically and comprehensively as well as to keep the interview focused on the desired line of action.[ 12 ] The questions in the interview guide comprise of the core question and many associated questions related to the central question, which in turn, improve further through pilot testing of the interview guide.[ 7 ] In order to have the interview data captured more effectively, recording of the interviews is considered an appropriate choice but sometimes a matter of controversy among the researcher and the respondent. Hand written notes during the interview are relatively unreliable, and the researcher might miss some key points. The recording of the interview makes it easier for the researcher to focus on the interview content and the verbal prompts and thus enables the transcriptionist to generate “verbatim transcript” of the interview.
Similarly, in focus groups, invited groups of people are interviewed in a discussion setting in the presence of the session moderator and generally these discussions last for 90 min.[ 7 ] Like every research technique having its own merits and demerits, group discussions have some intrinsic worth of expressing the opinions openly by the participants. On the contrary in these types of discussion settings, limited issues can be focused, and this may lead to the generation of fewer initiatives and suggestions about research topic.
Observation is a type of qualitative research method which not only included participant's observation, but also covered ethnography and research work in the field. In the observational research design, multiple study sites are involved. Observational data can be integrated as auxiliary or confirmatory research.[ 11 ]
Research can be visualized and perceived as painstaking methodical efforts to examine, investigate as well as restructure the realities, theories and applications. Research methods reflect the approach to tackling the research problem. Depending upon the need, research method could be either an amalgam of both qualitative and quantitative or qualitative or quantitative independently. By adopting qualitative methodology, a prospective researcher is going to fine-tune the pre-conceived notions as well as extrapolate the thought process, analyzing and estimating the issues from an in-depth perspective. This could be carried out by one-to-one interviews or as issue-directed discussions. Observational methods are, sometimes, supplemental means for corroborating research findings.
Comparison chart, methodology, generalizability, case study and survey definitions, what is the purpose of a case study, what is a case study, can case studies be generalized, can case studies be biased, are case studies credible, how is data collected in a case study, how long does a case study take, what is a survey, are case studies qualitative or quantitative, what fields use case studies, are surveys qualitative or quantitative, how are survey results analyzed, what challenges are associated with surveys, can surveys predict behavior, what makes a good case study, what types of surveys exist, what is a good response rate for a survey, what is the purpose of a survey, can surveys be biased, how are surveys conducted.
Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.
British Dental Journal volume 225 , pages 668–672 ( 2018 ) Cite this article
29k Accesses
50 Citations
20 Altmetric
Metrics details
Highlights that qualitative research is used increasingly in dentistry. Interviews and focus groups remain the most common qualitative methods of data collection.
Suggests the advent of digital technologies has transformed how qualitative research can now be undertaken.
Suggests interviews and focus groups can offer significant, meaningful insight into participants' experiences, beliefs and perspectives, which can help to inform developments in dental practice.
Qualitative research is used increasingly in dentistry, due to its potential to provide meaningful, in-depth insights into participants' experiences, perspectives, beliefs and behaviours. These insights can subsequently help to inform developments in dental practice and further related research. The most common methods of data collection used in qualitative research are interviews and focus groups. While these are primarily conducted face-to-face, the ongoing evolution of digital technologies, such as video chat and online forums, has further transformed these methods of data collection. This paper therefore discusses interviews and focus groups in detail, outlines how they can be used in practice, how digital technologies can further inform the data collection process, and what these methods can offer dentistry.
You have full access to this article via your institution.
A review of technical and quality assessment considerations of audio-visual and web-conferencing focus groups in qualitative health research, introduction.
Traditionally, research in dentistry has primarily been quantitative in nature. 1 However, in recent years, there has been a growing interest in qualitative research within the profession, due to its potential to further inform developments in practice, policy, education and training. Consequently, in 2008, the British Dental Journal (BDJ) published a four paper qualitative research series, 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 to help increase awareness and understanding of this particular methodological approach.
Since the papers were originally published, two scoping reviews have demonstrated the ongoing proliferation in the use of qualitative research within the field of oral healthcare. 1 , 6 To date, the original four paper series continue to be well cited and two of the main papers remain widely accessed among the BDJ readership. 2 , 3 The potential value of well-conducted qualitative research to evidence-based practice is now also widely recognised by service providers, policy makers, funding bodies and those who commission, support and use healthcare research.
Besides increasing standalone use, qualitative methods are now also routinely incorporated into larger mixed method study designs, such as clinical trials, as they can offer additional, meaningful insights into complex problems that simply could not be provided by quantitative methods alone. Qualitative methods can also be used to further facilitate in-depth understanding of important aspects of clinical trial processes, such as recruitment. For example, Ellis et al . investigated why edentulous older patients, dissatisfied with conventional dentures, decline implant treatment, despite its established efficacy, and frequently refuse to participate in related randomised clinical trials, even when financial constraints are removed. 7 Through the use of focus groups in Canada and the UK, the authors found that fears of pain and potential complications, along with perceived embarrassment, exacerbated by age, are common reasons why older patients typically refuse dental implants. 7
The last decade has also seen further developments in qualitative research, due to the ongoing evolution of digital technologies. These developments have transformed how researchers can access and share information, communicate and collaborate, recruit and engage participants, collect and analyse data and disseminate and translate research findings. 8 Where appropriate, such technologies are therefore capable of extending and enhancing how qualitative research is undertaken. 9 For example, it is now possible to collect qualitative data via instant messaging, email or online/video chat, using appropriate online platforms.
These innovative approaches to research are therefore cost-effective, convenient, reduce geographical constraints and are often useful for accessing 'hard to reach' participants (for example, those who are immobile or socially isolated). 8 , 9 However, digital technologies are still relatively new and constantly evolving and therefore present a variety of pragmatic and methodological challenges. Furthermore, given their very nature, their use in many qualitative studies and/or with certain participant groups may be inappropriate and should therefore always be carefully considered. While it is beyond the scope of this paper to provide a detailed explication regarding the use of digital technologies in qualitative research, insight is provided into how such technologies can be used to facilitate the data collection process in interviews and focus groups.
In light of such developments, it is perhaps therefore timely to update the main paper 3 of the original BDJ series. As with the previous publications, this paper has been purposely written in an accessible style, to enhance readability, particularly for those who are new to qualitative research. While the focus remains on the most common qualitative methods of data collection – interviews and focus groups – appropriate revisions have been made to provide a novel perspective, and should therefore be helpful to those who would like to know more about qualitative research. This paper specifically focuses on undertaking qualitative research with adult participants only.
Qualitative research is an approach that focuses on people and their experiences, behaviours and opinions. 10 , 11 The qualitative researcher seeks to answer questions of 'how' and 'why', providing detailed insight and understanding, 11 which quantitative methods cannot reach. 12 Within qualitative research, there are distinct methodologies influencing how the researcher approaches the research question, data collection and data analysis. 13 For example, phenomenological studies focus on the lived experience of individuals, explored through their description of the phenomenon. Ethnographic studies explore the culture of a group and typically involve the use of multiple methods to uncover the issues. 14
While methodology is the 'thinking tool', the methods are the 'doing tools'; 13 the ways in which data are collected and analysed. There are multiple qualitative data collection methods, including interviews, focus groups, observations, documentary analysis, participant diaries, photography and videography. Two of the most commonly used qualitative methods are interviews and focus groups, which are explored in this article. The data generated through these methods can be analysed in one of many ways, according to the methodological approach chosen. A common approach is thematic data analysis, involving the identification of themes and subthemes across the data set. Further information on approaches to qualitative data analysis has been discussed elsewhere. 1
Qualitative research is an evolving and adaptable approach, used by different disciplines for different purposes. Traditionally, qualitative data, specifically interviews, focus groups and observations, have been collected face-to-face with participants. In more recent years, digital technologies have contributed to the ongoing evolution of qualitative research. Digital technologies offer researchers different ways of recruiting participants and collecting data, and offer participants opportunities to be involved in research that is not necessarily face-to-face.
Research interviews are a fundamental qualitative research method 15 and are utilised across methodological approaches. Interviews enable the researcher to learn in depth about the perspectives, experiences, beliefs and motivations of the participant. 3 , 16 Examples include, exploring patients' perspectives of fear/anxiety triggers in dental treatment, 17 patients' experiences of oral health and diabetes, 18 and dental students' motivations for their choice of career. 19
Interviews may be structured, semi-structured or unstructured, 3 according to the purpose of the study, with less structured interviews facilitating a more in depth and flexible interviewing approach. 20 Structured interviews are similar to verbal questionnaires and are used if the researcher requires clarification on a topic; however they produce less in-depth data about a participant's experience. 3 Unstructured interviews may be used when little is known about a topic and involves the researcher asking an opening question; 3 the participant then leads the discussion. 20 Semi-structured interviews are commonly used in healthcare research, enabling the researcher to ask predetermined questions, 20 while ensuring the participant discusses issues they feel are important.
Interviews can be undertaken face-to-face or using digital methods when the researcher and participant are in different locations. Audio-recording the interview, with the consent of the participant, is essential for all interviews regardless of the medium as it enables accurate transcription; the process of turning the audio file into a word-for-word transcript. This transcript is the data, which the researcher then analyses according to the chosen approach.
Qualitative studies often utilise one-to-one, face-to-face interviews with research participants. This involves arranging a mutually convenient time and place to meet the participant, signing a consent form and audio-recording the interview. However, digital technologies have expanded the potential for interviews in research, enabling individuals to participate in qualitative research regardless of location.
Telephone interviews can be a useful alternative to face-to-face interviews and are commonly used in qualitative research. They enable participants from different geographical areas to participate and may be less onerous for participants than meeting a researcher in person. 15 A qualitative study explored patients' perspectives of dental implants and utilised telephone interviews due to the quality of the data that could be yielded. 21 The researcher needs to consider how they will audio record the interview, which can be facilitated by purchasing a recorder that connects directly to the telephone. One potential disadvantage of telephone interviews is the inability of the interviewer and researcher to see each other. This is resolved using software for audio and video calls online – such as Skype – to conduct interviews with participants in qualitative studies. Advantages of this approach include being able to see the participant if video calls are used, enabling observation of non-verbal communication, and the software can be free to use. However, participants are required to have a device and internet connection, as well as being computer literate, potentially limiting who can participate in the study. One qualitative study explored the role of dental hygienists in reducing oral health disparities in Canada. 22 The researcher conducted interviews using Skype, which enabled dental hygienists from across Canada to be interviewed within the research budget, accommodating the participants' schedules. 22
A less commonly used approach to qualitative interviews is the use of social virtual worlds. A qualitative study accessed a social virtual world – Second Life – to explore the health literacy skills of individuals who use social virtual worlds to access health information. 23 The researcher created an avatar and interview room, and undertook interviews with participants using voice and text methods. 23 This approach to recruitment and data collection enables individuals from diverse geographical locations to participate, while remaining anonymous if they wish. Furthermore, for interviews conducted using text methods, transcription of the interview is not required as the researcher can save the written conversation with the participant, with the participant's consent. However, the researcher and participant need to be familiar with how the social virtual world works to engage in an interview this way.
Ensuring informed consent before any interview is a fundamental aspect of the research process. Participants in research must be afforded autonomy and respect; consent should be informed and voluntary. 24 Individuals should have the opportunity to read an information sheet about the study, ask questions, understand how their data will be stored and used, and know that they are free to withdraw at any point without reprisal. The qualitative researcher should take written consent before undertaking the interview. In a face-to-face interview, this is straightforward: the researcher and participant both sign copies of the consent form, keeping one each. However, this approach is less straightforward when the researcher and participant do not meet in person. A recent protocol paper outlined an approach for taking consent for telephone interviews, which involved: audio recording the participant agreeing to each point on the consent form; the researcher signing the consent form and keeping a copy; and posting a copy to the participant. 25 This process could be replicated in other interview studies using digital methods.
There are advantages and disadvantages of using face-to-face and digital methods for research interviews. Ultimately, for both approaches, the quality of the interview is determined by the researcher. 16 Appropriate training and preparation are thus required. Healthcare professionals can use their interpersonal communication skills when undertaking a research interview, particularly questioning, listening and conversing. 3 However, the purpose of an interview is to gain information about the study topic, 26 rather than offering help and advice. 3 The researcher therefore needs to listen attentively to participants, enabling them to describe their experience without interruption. 3 The use of active listening skills also help to facilitate the interview. 14 Spradley outlined elements and strategies for research interviews, 27 which are a useful guide for qualitative researchers:
Greeting and explaining the project/interview
Asking descriptive (broad), structural (explore response to descriptive) and contrast (difference between) questions
Asymmetry between the researcher and participant talking
Expressing interest and cultural ignorance
Repeating, restating and incorporating the participant's words when asking questions
Creating hypothetical situations
Asking friendly questions
Knowing when to leave.
For semi-structured interviews, a topic guide (also called an interview schedule) is used to guide the content of the interview – an example of a topic guide is outlined in Box 1 . The topic guide, usually based on the research questions, existing literature and, for healthcare professionals, their clinical experience, is developed by the research team. The topic guide should include open ended questions that elicit in-depth information, and offer participants the opportunity to talk about issues important to them. This is vital in qualitative research where the researcher is interested in exploring the experiences and perspectives of participants. It can be useful for qualitative researchers to pilot the topic guide with the first participants, 10 to ensure the questions are relevant and understandable, and amending the questions if required.
Regardless of the medium of interview, the researcher must consider the setting of the interview. For face-to-face interviews, this could be in the participant's home, in an office or another mutually convenient location. A quiet location is preferable to promote confidentiality, enable the researcher and participant to concentrate on the conversation, and to facilitate accurate audio-recording of the interview. For interviews using digital methods the same principles apply: a quiet, private space where the researcher and participant feel comfortable and confident to participate in an interview.
Study focus: Parents' experiences of brushing their child's (aged 0–5) teeth
1. Can you tell me about your experience of cleaning your child's teeth?
How old was your child when you started cleaning their teeth?
Why did you start cleaning their teeth at that point?
How often do you brush their teeth?
What do you use to brush their teeth and why?
2. Could you explain how you find cleaning your child's teeth?
Do you find anything difficult?
What makes cleaning their teeth easier for you?
3. How has your experience of cleaning your child's teeth changed over time?
Has it become easier or harder?
Have you changed how often and how you clean their teeth? If so, why?
4. Could you describe how your child finds having their teeth cleaned?
What do they enjoy about having their teeth cleaned?
Is there anything they find upsetting about having their teeth cleaned?
5. Where do you look for information/advice about cleaning your child's teeth?
What did your health visitor tell you about cleaning your child's teeth? (If anything)
What has the dentist told you about caring for your child's teeth? (If visited)
Have any family members given you advice about how to clean your child's teeth? If so, what did they tell you? Did you follow their advice?
6. Is there anything else you would like to discuss about this?
A focus group is a moderated group discussion on a pre-defined topic, for research purposes. 28 , 29 While not aligned to a particular qualitative methodology (for example, grounded theory or phenomenology) as such, focus groups are used increasingly in healthcare research, as they are useful for exploring collective perspectives, attitudes, behaviours and experiences. Consequently, they can yield rich, in-depth data and illuminate agreement and inconsistencies 28 within and, where appropriate, between groups. Examples include public perceptions of dental implants and subsequent impact on help-seeking and decision making, 30 and general dental practitioners' views on patient safety in dentistry. 31
Focus groups can be used alone or in conjunction with other methods, such as interviews or observations, and can therefore help to confirm, extend or enrich understanding and provide alternative insights. 28 The social interaction between participants often results in lively discussion and can therefore facilitate the collection of rich, meaningful data. However, they are complex to organise and manage, due to the number of participants, and may also be inappropriate for exploring particularly sensitive issues that many participants may feel uncomfortable about discussing in a group environment.
Focus groups are primarily undertaken face-to-face but can now also be undertaken online, using appropriate technologies such as email, bulletin boards, online research communities, chat rooms, discussion forums, social media and video conferencing. 32 Using such technologies, data collection can also be synchronous (for example, online discussions in 'real time') or, unlike traditional face-to-face focus groups, asynchronous (for example, online/email discussions in 'non-real time'). While many of the fundamental principles of focus group research are the same, regardless of how they are conducted, a number of subtle nuances are associated with the online medium. 32 Some of which are discussed further in the following sections.
Some key considerations associated with face-to-face focus groups are: how many participants are required; should participants within each group know each other (or not) and how many focus groups are needed within a single study? These issues are much debated and there is no definitive answer. However, the number of focus groups required will largely depend on the topic area, the depth and breadth of data needed, the desired level of participation required 29 and the necessity (or not) for data saturation.
The optimum group size is around six to eight participants (excluding researchers) but can work effectively with between three and 14 participants. 3 If the group is too small, it may limit discussion, but if it is too large, it may become disorganised and difficult to manage. It is, however, prudent to over-recruit for a focus group by approximately two to three participants, to allow for potential non-attenders. For many researchers, particularly novice researchers, group size may also be informed by pragmatic considerations, such as the type of study, resources available and moderator experience. 28 Similar size and mix considerations exist for online focus groups. Typically, synchronous online focus groups will have around three to eight participants but, as the discussion does not happen simultaneously, asynchronous groups may have as many as 10–30 participants. 33
The topic area and potential group interaction should guide group composition considerations. Pre-existing groups, where participants know each other (for example, work colleagues) may be easier to recruit, have shared experiences and may enjoy a familiarity, which facilitates discussion and/or the ability to challenge each other courteously. 3 However, if there is a potential power imbalance within the group or if existing group norms and hierarchies may adversely affect the ability of participants to speak freely, then 'stranger groups' (that is, where participants do not already know each other) may be more appropriate. 34 , 35
Face-to-face focus groups should normally be conducted by two researchers; a moderator and an observer. 28 The moderator facilitates group discussion, while the observer typically monitors group dynamics, behaviours, non-verbal cues, seating arrangements and speaking order, which is essential for transcription and analysis. The same principles of informed consent, as discussed in the interview section, also apply to focus groups, regardless of medium. However, the consent process for online discussions will probably be managed somewhat differently. For example, while an appropriate participant information leaflet (and consent form) would still be required, the process is likely to be managed electronically (for example, via email) and would need to specifically address issues relating to technology (for example, anonymity and use, storage and access to online data). 32
The venue in which a face to face focus group is conducted should be of a suitable size, private, quiet, free from distractions and in a collectively convenient location. It should also be conducted at a time appropriate for participants, 28 as this is likely to promote attendance. As with interviews, the same ethical considerations apply (as discussed earlier). However, online focus groups may present additional ethical challenges associated with issues such as informed consent, appropriate access and secure data storage. Further guidance can be found elsewhere. 8 , 32
Before the focus group commences, the researchers should establish rapport with participants, as this will help to put them at ease and result in a more meaningful discussion. Consequently, researchers should introduce themselves, provide further clarity about the study and how the process will work in practice and outline the 'ground rules'. Ground rules are designed to assist, not hinder, group discussion and typically include: 3 , 28 , 29
Discussions within the group are confidential to the group
Only one person can speak at a time
All participants should have sufficient opportunity to contribute
There should be no unnecessary interruptions while someone is speaking
Everyone can be expected to be listened to and their views respected
Challenging contrary opinions is appropriate, but ridiculing is not.
Moderating a focus group requires considered management and good interpersonal skills to help guide the discussion and, where appropriate, keep it sufficiently focused. Avoid, therefore, participating, leading, expressing personal opinions or correcting participants' knowledge 3 , 28 as this may bias the process. A relaxed, interested demeanour will also help participants to feel comfortable and promote candid discourse. Moderators should also prevent the discussion being dominated by any one person, ensure differences of opinions are discussed fairly and, if required, encourage reticent participants to contribute. 3 Asking open questions, reflecting on significant issues, inviting further debate, probing responses accordingly, and seeking further clarification, as and where appropriate, will help to obtain sufficient depth and insight into the topic area.
Moderating online focus groups requires comparable skills, particularly if the discussion is synchronous, as the discussion may be dominated by those who can type proficiently. 36 It is therefore important that sufficient time and respect is accorded to those who may not be able to type as quickly. Asynchronous discussions are usually less problematic in this respect, as interactions are less instant. However, moderating an asynchronous discussion presents additional challenges, particularly if participants are geographically dispersed, as they may be online at different times. Consequently, the moderator will not always be present and the discussion may therefore need to occur over several days, which can be difficult to manage and facilitate and invariably requires considerable flexibility. 32 It is also worth recognising that establishing rapport with participants via online medium is often more challenging than via face-to-face and may therefore require additional time, skills, effort and consideration.
As with research interviews, focus groups should be guided by an appropriate interview schedule, as discussed earlier in the paper. For example, the schedule will usually be informed by the review of the literature and study aims, and will merely provide a topic guide to help inform subsequent discussions. To provide a verbatim account of the discussion, focus groups must be recorded, using an audio-recorder with a good quality multi-directional microphone. While videotaping is possible, some participants may find it obtrusive, 3 which may adversely affect group dynamics. The use (or not) of a video recorder, should therefore be carefully considered.
At the end of the focus group, a few minutes should be spent rounding up and reflecting on the discussion. 28 Depending on the topic area, it is possible that some participants may have revealed deeply personal issues and may therefore require further help and support, such as a constructive debrief or possibly even referral on to a relevant third party. It is also possible that some participants may feel that the discussion did not adequately reflect their views and, consequently, may no longer wish to be associated with the study. 28 Such occurrences are likely to be uncommon, but should they arise, it is important to further discuss any concerns and, if appropriate, offer them the opportunity to withdraw (including any data relating to them) from the study. Immediately after the discussion, researchers should compile notes regarding thoughts and ideas about the focus group, which can assist with data analysis and, if appropriate, any further data collection.
Qualitative research is increasingly being utilised within dental research to explore the experiences, perspectives, motivations and beliefs of participants. The contributions of qualitative research to evidence-based practice are increasingly being recognised, both as standalone research and as part of larger mixed-method studies, including clinical trials. Interviews and focus groups remain commonly used data collection methods in qualitative research, and with the advent of digital technologies, their utilisation continues to evolve. However, digital methods of qualitative data collection present additional methodological, ethical and practical considerations, but also potentially offer considerable flexibility to participants and researchers. Consequently, regardless of format, qualitative methods have significant potential to inform important areas of dental practice, policy and further related research.
Gussy M, Dickson-Swift V, Adams J . A scoping review of qualitative research in peer-reviewed dental publications. Int J Dent Hygiene 2013; 11 : 174–179.
Article Google Scholar
Burnard P, Gill P, Stewart K, Treasure E, Chadwick B . Analysing and presenting qualitative data. Br Dent J 2008; 204 : 429–432.
Gill P, Stewart K, Treasure E, Chadwick B . Methods of data collection in qualitative research: interviews and focus groups. Br Dent J 2008; 204 : 291–295.
Gill P, Stewart K, Treasure E, Chadwick B . Conducting qualitative interviews with school children in dental research. Br Dent J 2008; 204 : 371–374.
Stewart K, Gill P, Chadwick B, Treasure E . Qualitative research in dentistry. Br Dent J 2008; 204 : 235–239.
Masood M, Thaliath E, Bower E, Newton J . An appraisal of the quality of published qualitative dental research. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 2011; 39 : 193–203.
Ellis J, Levine A, Bedos C et al. Refusal of implant supported mandibular overdentures by elderly patients. Gerodontology 2011; 28 : 62–68.
Macfarlane S, Bucknall T . Digital Technologies in Research. In Gerrish K, Lathlean J (editors) The Research Process in Nursing . 7th edition. pp. 71–86. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell; 2015.
Google Scholar
Lee R, Fielding N, Blank G . Online Research Methods in the Social Sciences: An Editorial Introduction. In Fielding N, Lee R, Blank G (editors) The Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods . pp. 3–16. London: Sage Publications; 2016.
Creswell J . Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five designs . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1998.
Guest G, Namey E, Mitchell M . Qualitative research: Defining and designing In Guest G, Namey E, Mitchell M (editors) Collecting Qualitative Data: A Field Manual For Applied Research . pp. 1–40. London: Sage Publications, 2013.
Chapter Google Scholar
Pope C, Mays N . Qualitative research: Reaching the parts other methods cannot reach: an introduction to qualitative methods in health and health services research. BMJ 1995; 311 : 42–45.
Giddings L, Grant B . A Trojan Horse for positivism? A critique of mixed methods research. Adv Nurs Sci 2007; 30 : 52–60.
Hammersley M, Atkinson P . Ethnography: Principles in Practice . London: Routledge, 1995.
Oltmann S . Qualitative interviews: A methodological discussion of the interviewer and respondent contexts Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research. 2016; 17 : Art. 15.
Patton M . Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2002.
Wang M, Vinall-Collier K, Csikar J, Douglas G . A qualitative study of patients' views of techniques to reduce dental anxiety. J Dent 2017; 66 : 45–51.
Lindenmeyer A, Bowyer V, Roscoe J, Dale J, Sutcliffe P . Oral health awareness and care preferences in patients with diabetes: a qualitative study. Fam Pract 2013; 30 : 113–118.
Gallagher J, Clarke W, Wilson N . Understanding the motivation: a qualitative study of dental students' choice of professional career. Eur J Dent Educ 2008; 12 : 89–98.
Tod A . Interviewing. In Gerrish K, Lacey A (editors) The Research Process in Nursing . Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2006.
Grey E, Harcourt D, O'Sullivan D, Buchanan H, Kipatrick N . A qualitative study of patients' motivations and expectations for dental implants. Br Dent J 2013; 214 : 10.1038/sj.bdj.2012.1178.
Farmer J, Peressini S, Lawrence H . Exploring the role of the dental hygienist in reducing oral health disparities in Canada: A qualitative study. Int J Dent Hygiene 2017; 10.1111/idh.12276.
McElhinney E, Cheater F, Kidd L . Undertaking qualitative health research in social virtual worlds. J Adv Nurs 2013; 70 : 1267–1275.
Health Research Authority. UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research. Available at https://www.hra.nhs.uk/planning-and-improving-research/policies-standards-legislation/uk-policy-framework-health-social-care-research/ (accessed September 2017).
Baillie J, Gill P, Courtenay P . Knowledge, understanding and experiences of peritonitis among patients, and their families, undertaking peritoneal dialysis: A mixed methods study protocol. J Adv Nurs 2017; 10.1111/jan.13400.
Kvale S . Interviews . Thousand Oaks (CA): Sage, 1996.
Spradley J . The Ethnographic Interview . New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1979.
Goodman C, Evans C . Focus Groups. In Gerrish K, Lathlean J (editors) The Research Process in Nursing . pp. 401–412. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 2015.
Shaha M, Wenzell J, Hill E . Planning and conducting focus group research with nurses. Nurse Res 2011; 18 : 77–87.
Wang G, Gao X, Edward C . Public perception of dental implants: a qualitative study. J Dent 2015; 43 : 798–805.
Bailey E . Contemporary views of dental practitioners' on patient safety. Br Dent J 2015; 219 : 535–540.
Abrams K, Gaiser T . Online Focus Groups. In Field N, Lee R, Blank G (editors) The Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods . pp. 435–450. London: Sage Publications, 2016.
Poynter R . The Handbook of Online and Social Media Research . West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, 2010.
Kevern J, Webb C . Focus groups as a tool for critical social research in nurse education. Nurse Educ Today 2001; 21 : 323–333.
Kitzinger J, Barbour R . Introduction: The Challenge and Promise of Focus Groups. In Barbour R S K J (editor) Developing Focus Group Research . pp. 1–20. London: Sage Publications, 1999.
Krueger R, Casey M . Focus Groups: A Practical Guide for Applied Research. 4th ed. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE; 2009.
Download references
Authors and affiliations.
Senior Lecturer (Adult Nursing), School of Healthcare Sciences, Cardiff University,
Lecturer (Adult Nursing) and RCBC Wales Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of Healthcare Sciences, Cardiff University,
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar
Correspondence to P. Gill .
Reprints and permissions
Cite this article.
Gill, P., Baillie, J. Interviews and focus groups in qualitative research: an update for the digital age. Br Dent J 225 , 668–672 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2018.815
Download citation
Accepted : 02 July 2018
Published : 05 October 2018
Issue Date : 12 October 2018
DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2018.815
Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:
Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.
Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative
Translating brand reputation into equity from the stakeholder’s theory: an approach to value creation based on consumer’s perception & interactions.
International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility (2024)
BMC Public Health (2024)
BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth (2024)
Reproductive Health (2023)
BMC Oral Health (2023)
Both approaches have pros and cons — and can yield different insights about a candidate.
It’s critical to avoid the financial burden of making a wrong hire. Two approaches to conducting interviews — structured and conversational — can yield different insights about a candidate. While structured interviews make it easier to compare candidate responses and help ensure each interviewer covers distinct areas without redundancy, they may fall short in uncovering the candidate’s communication style and adaptability to change in a real-world setting. Conversational interviews offer a unique opportunity to get to know a candidate better by engaging them in a discussion about a real problem your organization is facing or has faced, but they can also present greater opportunities for bias to creep in. Here’s what each interview method can reveal about a candidate and when you might want to use them.
Interviewing candidates involves more than assessing their hard and soft skills — it’s crucial to choose the right method to gain a comprehensive understanding of their potential long-term fit for the team and company. During my time in human resources, I frequently encountered new hires who possessed extensive experience and expertise but struggled to adapt, which ultimately benefited no one. This mismatch often stemmed from a lack of alignment between the candidate’s values and the company’s environment and core principles, as well as the hiring manager’s lack of understanding about a candidate’s long-term career aspirations and motivations.
By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies and similar tracking technologies described in our privacy policy .
News and publications.
Access AHA news and publications supporting the work of historians.
June 25, 2024
AHA members Holly Brewer (Univ. of Maryland) and Laura F. Edwards (Princeton Univ.) have co-authored an article for Washington Monthly…
June 24, 2024
June 21, 2024
June 18, 2024
The American Historical Review is the flagship journal of the AHA and the journal of record for the historical discipline in the United States, bringing together scholarship from every major field of historical study.
Perspectives on History is the newsmagazine of the AHA and is the principal source for news and information about the discipline of history. Since 1962, Perspectives has promoted our work by publishing articles and commentary on all aspects of the historical discipline.
Collaborative history + revisiting marion thompson wright, teaching historiography + chilling affects, aha booklets.
The AHA publishes booklets that address a diversity of topics to serve the needs of history students and historians in all professions. Our publications include career advice for history graduates, overviews and syntheses of current historical topics and fields, and guides to teaching and learning in history.
The AHA is pleased to provide resources for journalists and press. If you are a member of the media and would like to submit a request for a referral or interview, please email [email protected] . Please provide any pertinent deadlines and we will do our best to accommodate your request. The AHA can find you a historian for any topic, and assists with dozens of inquiries each year.
The AHA encourages the reading of history with periodic reading challenges.
All material published by the American Historical Association in any medium is protected by copyright.
The AHA brings together historians from all specializations and all work contexts, embracing the breadth and variety of activity in history today.
BMC Psychiatry volume 24 , Article number: 462 ( 2024 ) Cite this article
534 Accesses
Metrics details
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a devastating mental health condition characterized by constant, uncontrolled worrying. Recent hypotheses indicate that pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines are potential contributors to the pathogenesis of GAD. Here, we aimed to assess the role of interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) in the pathophysiology and development of GAD.
This study recruited 50 GAD patients diagnosed according to the DSM-5 criteria and 38 age-sex-matched healthy controls (HCs). A qualified psychiatrist evaluated all study subjects. The socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of the study population were determined using pre-structured questionnaires or interviews, and cytokine serum levels were estimated using commercially available ELISA kits.
We observed reduced serum IL-10 levels in GAD patients compared to HCs (33.69 ± 1.37 pg/ml vs. 44.12 ± 3.16 pg/ml). Also, we observed a significant negative correlation between altered IL-10 levels and GAD-7 scores ( r =-0.315, p = 0.039). Moreover, IL-10 serum measurement exhibited good predictive value in receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis with an area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.793 ( p < 0.001) with 80.65% sensitivity and 62.79% specificity at a cutoff value of 33.93 pg/ml. Conversely, we noticed elevated serum IL-2 levels in GAD patients than in HCs (14.81 ± 2.88 pg/ml vs. 8.08 ± 1.1 pg/ml); however, it failed to maintain any significant association with GAD-7 scores, implying that IL-2 might not be involved in GAD pathogenesis. The lower AUC value (0.640; p > 0.05) exhibited by IL-2 serum measurement in ROC analysis further supported that IL-2 might not be associated with GAD.
This study provides new insights into the complex interplay between anti-inflammatory cytokines and GAD pathogenesis. Based on the present findings, we can assume that IL-10 but not IL-2 may be associated with the pathophysiology and development of GAD. However, further research with a larger population size and longitudinal design is required to confirm the potential diagnostic efficacy of IL-10.
Peer Review reports
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a chronic neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by persistent and excessive uncontrollable fear or worry (occurs for at least 6 months) about various aspects/activities of daily life, affecting the educational, occupational, or social lives of the affected people [ 1 ]. If a person is excessively worried about anything for most days over at least 6 months, he/she is considered to have GAD. Though currently the prevalence rate of GAD is 3–6% worldwide [ 1 , 2 , 3 ], the prevalence is increasing day by day due to the complexity of modern lifestyles and thus warrants attention from national and international authorities to take interventions for mitigating and managing this disorder properly. If it remains undiagnosed or untreated, the uncontrollable and persistently intense anxiety can lead to a marked reduction in cognitive functions or a reduced capacity to work properly in all spheres of life, including educational, family, social, and individual routine work. As such, chronic GAD leads to a reduced quality of life and thereby poses a significant mental health concern globally.
Despite its high prevalence, significant morbidity, and socioeconomic burden, GAD remains poorly characterized in terms of its pathophysiology or effective treatment options. Though the precise cause and mechanism of pathogenesis are still unknown, evidence suggests that multiple factors, including disrupted serotonergic, dopaminergic, and GABAergic neurotransmission and excessive glutamatergic neurotransmission in the brain, genetic factors, family or environmental stress, chronic diseases, hyperthyroidism, childhood trauma, and special personality traits, are linked to GAD. Alterations in monoaminergic neurotransmissions in limbic systems (cingulate gyrus, hippocampus, amygdala, thalamus, and hypothalamus) due to the lower synaptic availability of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine are thought to be associated with anxiety symptoms. Besides, decreased GABA-mediated inhibitory neurotransmission in the amygdala or excessive activation of excitatory glutamatergic neurotransmission are also suggested to be involved in GAD pathology.
Currently, available pharmacotherapies for GAD include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), pregabalin, and benzodiazepines, which act by reversing these altered monoaminergic neurotransmitter systems. Alongside these drug treatments, non-pharmacological therapies such as several psychological interventions, including cognitive-behavioral therapy, and the acquisition and application of stress management skills, including relaxation and mindfulness skills are also widely used for the management of GAD. However, currently, available pharmacotherapies (SSRIs, SNRIs, pregabalin, and benzodiazepines) have failed to demonstrate the required efficacy in treating anxiety disorders, as 50% of patients failed to respond to these drugs, and at least in 30% of cases, there is a recurrence of the disease following the pharmacological treatment [ 1 , 4 , 5 ]. Moreover, studies reported a higher rate of discontinuity from these pharmacotherapies with low patient adherence or compliance due to the adverse effects, including sexual dysfunction for SSRIs and SNRIs, nausea and dizziness for pregabalin, demonstrating an urgent need for searching for novel anxiolytics [ 3 ]. These findings raised questions about the validity of the currently available mechanism of pathogenesis and suggested that the altered monoaminergic neurotransmitter system might not fully explain the molecular mechanism of GAD development, suggesting other pathophysiological factors might be involved in GAD. Recently, dysregulated immune systems have attracted great interest as an important pathophysiological factor for the development of GAD [ 4 , 6 , 7 , 8 ]. Several clinical and preclinical studies suggest a link between the altered immune system and GAD pathology. Preclinical studies in mice also demonstrated that administration of pro-inflammatory cytokines (including IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-6) in mice resulted in anxiety-like behaviors that were attenuated or normalized after injecting either anti-inflammatory cytokines or antagonists for the concerned cytokines [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. A recent prospective cohort study conducted by Hou et al., (2019) demonstrated that administration of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (escitalopram or sertraline) resulted in a significant reduction in peripheral pro-inflammatory cytokines, and the authors suggested that the anxiolytic effects of these SSRIs might partly be based on their acute anti-inflammatory activities [ 14 ], implicating a significant association between dysregulated peripheral immune systems and GAD development. The development of anxiety-like symptoms in IL-4 gene knock-out mice, reduced levels of IL-4 in anxious mice, and the significant attenuation of anxiety-like behaviors following IL-4 injection demonstrated a positive association between anti-inflammatory cytokines, IL-4 levels, and anxiety pathology [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]. This immune hypothesis of GAD development is further potentiated by findings from several clinical studies that reported that GAD patients showed significantly higher levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines ( IL-1Ra, IL-1, IL-6, TNF-α, etc.) compared to healthy controls (HCs) [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ] along with decreased levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines, including IL-4 and IL-10 [ 25 ]. Besides, pro-inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α, and IL-6 were significantly associated with anxiety scores [ 29 ]. Consistent with this, a randomized clinical trial in humans demonstrated that LPS administration resulted in enhanced anxiety scores, and the authors suggested a significant correlation between pro-inflammatory cytokine levels and anxiety severity [ 30 ]. LPS-mediated microglia activation causes enhanced release of excessive pro-inflammatory cytokines in the basolateral amygdala, which ultimately leads to neuroinflammation in mice, resulting in the development of anxiety and depression-like behaviors by modulating neuronal plasticity. The authors found that anxiety pathogenesis was due to the excessive release of excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate from presynaptic axonal terminals of the prefrontal cortex, leading to neuroplasticity [ 31 ]. However, some studies reported either no significant variation in pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory cytokine serum levels between GAD patients and HCs [ 32 ] or that pro-inflammatory cytokines including IL-1, IL-2, and IL-6 were significantly reduced in GAD patients than HCs [ 33 , 34 ]. This discrepancy in altered levels of inflammatory cytokines across clinical studies necessitates a further examination of the role of these cytokines in GAD pathophysiology.
Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is one of the major pro-inflammatory cytokines implicated in T cell activation, proliferation, and differentiation and is thus linked to excessive neuro-inflammatory processes [ 35 ]. IL-2 has been shown to impair synaptic plasticity and cause neuroinflammation, which ultimately leads to neuronal damage in neurocircuits associated with fear and anxiety signal transduction. IL-2 was also reported to act as a potent modulator of NMDA and kainite-mediated excitability in mesolimbic or mesostriatal systems [ 36 , 37 , 38 ] and thus affect neuroplasticity. As IL-2 was found to be positively associated with major depressive disorder [ 38 , 39 ], probably, IL-2 might also be correlated with anxiety disorders like GAD, as MDD and GAD are highly co-morbid themselves and thus might share common pathophysiological factors. Recently, a preclinical study conducted by Gilio et al., (2022) observed that IL-2 administration in experimentally healthy mice triggered marked anxiety and depression-like behaviors, and the authors suggested that inhibition of GABA-mediated synaptic inhibitory neurotransmission was involved in the pathology of anxiety [ 40 ].
Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is one of the major anti-inflammatory cytokines that is secreted from Treg cells, Th2 cells, CD4 + T cells, CD8 + T cells, monocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells, B cells, neutrophils in the peripheral nervous system, and from microglia, astrocytes in the central nervous system (CNS) [ 41 ]. IL-10 signaling triggers anti-inflammatory, immunosuppressive, and immunoregulatory activities, including downregulating the production and secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines from activated macrophages, neutrophils, mast cells, Th1 cells, and DCS, decreasing the expression of MHC class II and co-stimulatory molecules on macrophages, and thereby suppressing the antigen presentation capacity of APCS [ 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ]. In the CNS, it inhibits the production of such cytokines and chemokines by activated microglia and thereby counteracts cellular and tissue damage in response to excessive neuroinflammation [ 47 , 48 ]. IL-10 has also been shown to stimulate axonal regeneration and activate wound healing through tissue repair [ 48 ]. Research also indicates its role as an inhibitor for microglial hyperactivation in response to LPS-induced inflammatory stimulus [ 49 ]. Based on its anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory functions, researchers suggested an intricate role for IL-10 in several auto-immune and neuropsychiatric disorders. For example, Mesquita et al., (2008) observed that IL-10 KO mice developed markedly enhanced depressive-like behavior, which was attenuated after IL-10 administration, and that overexpression of IL-10 resulted in reduced depressive behaviors in mice [ 50 ]. Moreover, administration of IL-10 into rats attenuated the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-1β-induced anxiety-like symptoms in male rats [ 10 ], demonstrating that IL-10 possesses anxiolytic activities. Preclinical research using an experimental animal model also suggests that the observed anxiolytic effect of several anti-anxiety drugs, including 3’-deoxyadenosine (3’-dA), imipramine, fluoxetine, and chlordiazepoxide, stems from their ability to upregulate anti-inflammatory cytokine (IL-4, IL-10) expression in the prefrontal cortex and locus coeruleus and simultaneous down-regulation of proinflammatory cytokine gene expression, leading to a correction of the imbalance between proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory states [ 51 , 52 ]. Though several preclinical studies suggest a potential link between IL-10 levels and anxiety disorder, there is a scarcity of clinical studies aimed at evaluating such an association between IL-10 and GAD development [ 10 ].
Currently, there is no objective and cost-effective diagnostic or prognostic biomarker for GAD, which poses challenges in early diagnosis or risk prediction and leads to misdiagnosis or underdiagnosis, hampering the proper management of the disease. Currently available diagnostic tools, including self-reported symptoms and scoring severity based on the patient’s response to the 7-item questionnaire (GAD-7 scores), are subjective. Though neuroimaging techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional MRI can be used for the proper and objective diagnosis of GAD, due to their high cost and sophistication or complexities, these diagnostic tools are not suitable for either mass-level screening or are not easy to conduct multiple times to monitor the disease progression or therapeutic drug response. As such, the investigation of cost-effective objective biomarkers for GAD is one of the major focuses of current research on GAD. Finding a suitable biomarker is essential for early diagnosis and initiating psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy as early as possible [ 3 ]. Several studies were performed investigating the potential association between altered pro-inflammatory cytokines or anti-inflammatory cytokines and the pathogenesis of GAD. However, the actual role of inflammatory cytokines in GAD patients is not well explained. Therefore, the present study aims to explore the role of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-2) and anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-10) in the pathophysiology and development of GAD. Also, we aim to find the potential associations of IL-2 and IL-10 with the severity of GAD patients. We believe the present study results would help to understand the pathophysiology and development of GAD.
We recruited 88 participants for this case-control study (50 GAD patients and 38 HCs matched by age and sex). Patients were collected from the Department of Psychiatry, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh, and HCs from nearby areas of Dhaka city. A professional psychiatrist diagnosed patients and evaluated HCs based on DSM-5 criteria. We applied a 7-item GAD scale to assess the severity of anxiety symptoms [ 53 ]. The total scores range from 0 to 21, and it classifies the anxiety severity into four categories: minimal anxiety (0–4 scores), mild anxiety (5–9 scores), moderate anxiety (10–14 scores), and severe anxiety (15–21 scores). We excluded subjects with a co-morbidity of other psychiatric disorders, such as MDD, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and social phobia, from the study. Additional exclusion criteria for participants were chronic liver and kidney diseases, infectious diseases, and alcohol or substance abuse. We also excluded patients who were exposed to anxiolytics or antidepressant medications within at least two weeks prior to the study that might have an impact on cytokine levels. We recorded the sociodemographic profile of the study population using a pre-designed questionnaire. The objectives of the study were explained to each participant, and informed written consent was obtained from them before their participation in this study. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.
A 5 ml blood sample was collected from the cephalic vein of each participant. The blood samples were kept at room temperature for 1 hour to ensure coagulation and were then subjected to centrifugation at 3000 rpm for 15 minutes at room temperature to collect serum samples. The collected serum was then placed in the Eppendorf tube and stored at -80 °C until further analysis.
We estimated the serum levels of IL-2 and IL-10 by ELISA methods (Boster Bio, USA). We followed the manufacturer’s protocol for the ELISA assays. At first, we added 100 µl of standard cytokine solution, samples, and controls to each well of a pre-coated 96-well microplate. The microplates were covered with a plate sealer and incubated for 90 min at 37⁰C. After that, the cover was removed, and the liquid in each well was discarded. Subsequently, 100 µl of biotinylated anti-IL-2 antibody or anti-IL-10 antibody was incorporated into each well and incubated for 60 min at 37⁰C. After discarding the liquid from each well and washing it three times with 300 µl of wash buffer, 100 µl of avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex was added to each well, and the microplate was then again incubated for 30 min at 37⁰C. After the incubation period, the liquid was again discarded, and the plate was washed again with 300 µl of wash buffer five times. Following the addition of 90 µl color-developing reagent (TMB) into each well, the plate was incubated in a dark place for 30 min at RT, followed by the addition of 90 µl of stop solution to each well to stop the reaction process. We measured the absorbance with a microplate reader at 450 nm. We calculated the cytokine levels using standard curves and expressed them as pg/ml.
GraphPad Prism (version 8.0.1) and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (version 24.0) were used for data analysis. We used descriptive statistics to find the variations in sociodemographic profiles and clinical characteristics between the groups. A T-test and a Chi-square test were employed to determine the statistical level of significance between the mean differences for variables across patients versus HC groups in the case of continuous variables and categorical variables, respectively. We used boxplot graphs for comparisons of analyzed cytokines between patients and HCs. We also generated scatter plot graphs for several clinical variables in GAD patients to show the correlations among the clinical parameters. A correlation analysis was performed to assess the potential association between several demographic and clinical variables in GAD patients. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis was conducted to determine the diagnostic efficacy of serum IL-2 or IL-10 levels in discriminating GAD patients from HCs. In all cases, statistical significance was considered at p < 0.05.
The sociodemographic characteristics of the study population are presented in Table 1 . The GAD patients and HCs were similar in terms of their age, sex, and BMI. Among the participants, about 60% were male and from urban areas. The majority of patients (60.00%) and HCs (68.42%) were unmarried. There was no significant variation between patients and HCs for their education level, occupation, economic status, or smoking status. In contrast, there was a difference between patients and HCs for their family history and previous history of the disease. In GAD patients, 20.00% had a family history, and 40.00% had a previous history of the disease.
Clinical characteristics and laboratory analysis results are presented in Table 2 . GAD patients displayed markedly higher serum levels of IL-2 (14.81 ± 2.88 pg/ml) compared to HCs (8.08 ± 1.10 pg/ml), and the difference reached the statistically significant level ( p = 0.037, two-tailed unpaired t-test) (Table 2 ; Fig. 1 ). Though male GAD patients exhibited markedly higher levels of IL-2 compared to male HCs ( p = 0.048), there was no significant variation in IL-2 levels between female patients and female HCs ( p > 0.05) (Fig. 1 ). Though some 1.8-fold higher IL-2 serum levels were observed in male GAD patients compared to female GAD patients, the difference did not reach the statistical significance level ( p = 0.198, two-tailed unpaired t-test). In contrast to the results obtained for IL-2, IL-10 showed a statistically significant ( p < 0.001) reduction in GAD patients (33.69 ± 1.37 pg/ml) compared to HCs (44.12 ± 3.16 pg/ml) (Fig. 1 ). Similar to the results obtained for IL-2, IL-10 levels showed a statistically significant difference between patients versus HCs when male people were considered (Fig. 1 ). In contrast, there was no significant variation in IL-10 levels between female GAD patients and female HCs ( p > 0.05).
Distribution of serum IL-2 ( a i ) and IL-10 ( b i ) levels in GAD patients and healthy controls. Comparison of IL-2 and IL-10 levels between GAD patients and their counterparts in control subjects are showed in a i and b i . Comparison of IL-2 and IL-10 levels between male or female GAD patients and their counterparts in control subjects are presented in a ii and b ii
We then performed a series of correlation analyses to investigate the association of altered cytokine serum levels with several demographic and clinical variables, such as age, BMI, DSM-5, and GAD-7 scores (Table 3 ). Serum IL-2 levels did not show any positive or negative association with either DSM-5 or GAD-7 scores ( p > 0.05), suggesting that despite its significant enhancement in GAD patients compared to HCs, IL-2 may not associate with GAD pathophysiology. We also observed no significant association between the ages of the patients and IL-2 serum levels. In contrast, the IL-2 levels of GAD patients maintained a significant and positive correlation with BMI levels of patients ( r = 0.390, p < 0.05) which is consistent with the intricate relationship between body mass and enhanced pro-inflammatory responses. Contrary to the results obtained for IL-2, reduced serum IL-10 levels maintained a significant but negative association with both DSM-5 scores ( r =-0.300, p = 0.045) and GAD-7 scores ( r =-0.315, p = 0.039), implicating that altered IL-10 levels are linked to GAD development or pathogenesis. However, the age and BMI levels of GAD patients failed to show any positive or negative association with IL-10 serum levels. Analysis also showed a significant and strong positive association between IL-2 and IL-10 serum levels ( r = 0.471, p = 0.011) in GAD patients, which might be due to the compensatory enhancement of anti-inflammatory cytokine, IL-10 in response to elevated pro-inflammatory cytokine, IL-2 levels. Also, we displayed these correlations among several clinical variables of GAD patients by scatter plot graphs (Fig. 2 ).
Scatter plot graphs for several clinical variables of GAD patients showing existence or absence of correlation between the clinical parameters. Scatter plot for serum IL-2 levels versus GAD-7 scores ( a ) or DSM-5 scores ( b ) expressing no significant association between IL-2 and both clinical parameters. Scatter plot graphs showing significant association between IL-2 levels and BMI ( c ), IL-10 levels and GAD-7 scores ( d ), IL-10 levels and DSM-5 scores and IL-10 and IL-2 levels ( f )
Serum IL-10 measurement showed a good performance in differentiating GAD patients from HCs, which was evidenced by its significantly higher area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.793 ( p < 0.001) with 80.65% sensitivity and 62.79% specificity at a cut-off value of 33.93 pg/ml, in which the cytokine levels below this point indicate disease states (Table 4 ; Fig. 3 ). ROC analysis of serum IL-2 levels failed to discriminate GAD patients from HCs as the AUC value was below the acceptable range (AUC: 0.640; p = 0.108) with 54.17% sensitivity and 68.18% specificity at a cut-off value of 8.83 pg/ml) (Fig. 3 ; Table 4 ).
Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) for serum IL-2 ( a ) and IL-10 levels ( b )
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case-control study to investigate the potential association between the pathophysiology of GAD and the pro-inflammatory cytokine, IL-2, and the anti-inflammatory cytokine, IL-10, among the Bangladeshi population. We observed that IL-10 serum levels were significantly lower in GAD patients than in HCs, and this reduction was found to be significantly but negatively associated with both DSM-5 scores and GAD-7 scores, demonstrating potential involvement of this anti-inflammatory cytokine in disease severity and symptoms. Our results of a significant reduction in IL-10 levels in GAD patients are in good agreement with those observed in other studies [ 23 , 25 ]. In contrast, our results diverge from those reported by others [ 33 , 54 ] who either reported no significant variation in IL-10 levels between GAD patients and HCs or that IL-10 levels were enhanced in GAD patients compared to HCs. ROC analysis also demonstrated the good predictive value of IL-10 serum measurement in discriminating diseased patients from HCs, suggesting that IL-10 serum level might be a potential biomarker for diagnosis, anti-anxiety drug response monitoring, or disease progression monitoring. Recently, Hou et al. (2019) demonstrated that peripheral serum levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6 could be used to monitor the treatment response of SSRIs in GAD [ 14 ]. Similarly, IL-10 might be used as a marker for therapeutic drug monitoring in GAD. However, further longitudinal studies are required to find any causal relationship between IL-10 and disease severity or pathogenesis. On the other hand, serum IL-2 levels were significantly elevated in GAD patients compared to HCs, but they failed to demonstrate any significant association with either DSM-5 scores or GAD-7 scores in Pearson correlation analysis, implying that IL-2 levels might not be associated with the pathophysiology and development of GAD. Consistent with this, ROC analysis showed that IL-2 levels have no significant diagnostic efficacy in differentiating GAD patients from HCs. Further analysis with a larger population size is required to explore the role of IL-2 in the context of GAD severity. Our results are consistent with those reported by Tang et al. (2018), who also observed that GAD patients exhibited significantly higher serum levels of IL-2 compared to HCs [ 19 ]. However, our results are not in agreement with those reported by others who observed either no significant variation in IL-2 levels [ 54 ] or a significant reduction in GAD patients compared to HCs [ 25 , 33 , 34 , 55 ]. We also observed a significant positive correlation between IL-2 and IL-10 levels in GAD patients, which indicates a compensatory mechanism [ 56 ].
Our study provides some valuable insights into the complex and intricate relationship between the dysregulated immune system and GAD. The observed reduction in IL-10 levels in GAD patients in our study suggests a potential immunoregulatory imbalance in GAD, with IL-10 playing a role in modulating anxiety severity. The lack of a significant association between IL-2 serum levels and anxiety severity highlights the nuanced nature of immune dysregulation in GAD, warranting further exploration into the specific mechanisms involved. Elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokine, IL-2, and decreased levels of anti-inflammatory cytokine, IL-10, in GAD patients compared to HCs indicate that GAD individuals of the Bangladeshi cohort are characterized by heightened inflammatory responses derived from the imbalance between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory states. Our study finding provides further support for the cytokine hypothesis of anxiety disorder, which proposes that pro-inflammatory cytokine-mediated neuroinflammatory processes can lead to anxiety symptoms or behaviors by downregulating serotonin biosynthesis or enhancing the reuptake of serotonin, resulting in an altered serotonergic neurotransmitter system in the CNS [ 15 ]. The observed significant negative correlation between IL-10 and DSM-5 scores or GAD-7 scores suggests that lowering IL-10 levels might be involved in the pathogenesis of GAD. One of the major implications of our study findings is that IL-10 signaling might be targeted to explore potential novel immunological/immunomodulatory therapies against GAD. The diminished IL-10 levels and their negative correlation with GAD severity suggest a potential avenue for therapeutic intervention. IL-10 might also be used as an anti-inflammatory adjunctive therapy with other pharmacotherapies including SSRIs/SNRIs. However, at this moment, we don’t know the exact mechanism by which lowered levels of IL-10 are linked to higher anxiety severity in GAD patients.
As IL-10 has anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory activities such as suppression of production of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α) from microglia and astrocytes, reduction in IL-10 levels in GAD patients in our study led to an imbalance between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory states and resulted in enhanced pro-inflammatory responses, which might be the cause of enhanced anxiety symptoms as inflammatory cytokine-mediated neuroinflammation was reported to be linked with disrupted monoaminergic neurotransmission in the brain. Besides, elevated levels of IL-10 were shown to attenuate anxiety-like behaviors by modulating GABAergic neurotransmission in the amygdala (Patel et al., 2021). IL-10 was also reported to display some neuroprotective activities and has been shown to inhibit neuronal apoptosis and promote neurite outgrowth, axonal outgrowth, and synapse formation in the brain by the JAK1-STAT3 signaling pathway [ 57 ]. In a preclinical study, IL-4 has been shown to cause the shifting of microglia and macrophages from pro-inflammatory to anti-inflammatory neuroprotective phenotypes characterized by excessive production of arginase-1 and PPARγ receptor expression in microglia and macrophage and thereby attenuating brain-injury-mediated anxiety by inhibiting neuronal loss and nerve tracts in the limbic system [ 58 ]. A similar mechanism might be involved in IL-10-mediated anxiety symptom improvement in GAD patients. Further research is required to unravel the exact mechanisms of IL-10-mediated anxiety symptom attenuation in GAD patients.
In terms of diagnostic marker development, as IL-10 serum level measurement demonstrated good performance in discriminating GAD patients from HCs and as IL-10 levels maintained a significant and negative correlation with disease severity, IL-10 serum level raised the possibility of being an objective biomarker for GAD. However, the diagnostic efficacy of this cytokine should be investigated thoroughly using a range of longitudinal studies. Despite this, at this time we can conclude that IL-10 might be used as a risk indicator for assessment of susceptibility to anxiety disorder, resulting in early detection of the disease and prompting the initiation of intervention strategies. This early detection will reduce treatment costs and decrease the prevalence and morbidity associated with this chronic disorder.
The strength of our study is that we designed a set of inclusion and exclusion criteria for the recruitment of participants and followed those criteria in such a way that homogenous population data could be obtained. The strict study design helped us enormously to minimize the potential impact of several confounding variables, including age, sex, BMI, co-morbid diseases, and immunomodulatory drugs, on cytokine levels. However, our study also has some limitations that should be acknowledged. The major limitation of this study is the smaller sample size. We recruited 50 patients and 38 HCs, which does not represent the whole Bangladeshi demographic. It would be better if we could enroll an equal number of cases and controls. For example, we observed that cytokine levels maintained a statistically significant difference between male GAD patients and male HCs. In contrast, no significant variation in cytokine levels was observed when female data were considered. As we have included more male participants (60%) than female participants (40%), the lower sample size of female participants might generate a higher background noise, resulting in lower statistical power, warranting further studies recruiting a larger population size to investigate sex-specific differences in cytokine levels in GAD patients. Our case-control study design is inherently correlational and thus not able to evaluate the causal relationship between altered cytokine levels and GAD. So, at this moment, we cannot conclude whether the altered levels of serum cytokines are the causes of anxiety development or just the outcome of pathophysiological changes.
Longitudinal studies are required to investigate whether altered cytokine levels precede GAD or if it’s just a mere reflection of GAD pathology. Though we have restricted the impacts of several co-variates, other confounding variables, including genetic polymorphism in cytokine genes, the effect of lifestyle or xenobiotics, and dietary habits, were not considered, which might have modulatory effects on serum cytokine levels.
The study provides valuable insights for understanding the pathogenesis of GAD. Despite having elevated IL-2 levels in GAD patients compared to HCs, it failed to demonstrate a significant association with anxiety severity as assessed by GAD-7 scores. In contrast, serum IL-10 levels were significantly reduced in GAD patients compared to HCs and showed a significant negative correlation with anxiety severity, implicating a potential link with the GAD pathophysiology. Our results support the immune hypothesis of GAD development. Our study findings also suggest that IL-10 serum level measurement might offer an objective blood-based biomarker or risk assessment indicator for GAD. We recommend further research employing a larger population size and homogenous data from different areas of Bangladesh to confirm our study findings.
All the relevant data and information will be available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Body mass index
Chronic energy deficiency
Confidence interval
Central nervous system
Diagnostic and statistical manual for mental disorders, 5th edition
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
Generalized anxiety disorder 7-item scores
Healthy control
Receiver operating characteristic
Standard error mean
Statistical package for social science
Fagan HA, Baldwin DS. Pharmacological treatment of generalised anxiety disorder: current practice and future directions. Expert Rev Neurother. 2023;23(6):535–48. https://doi.org/10.1080/14737175.2023.2211767 .
Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar
Strawn JR, Geracioti L, Rajdev N, Clemenza K, Levine A. Pharmacotherapy for generalized anxiety disorder in adult and pediatric patients: an evidence-based treatment review. Expert Opin Pharmacother. 2018;19(10):1057–70. https://doi.org/10.1080/14656566.2018.1491966 .
Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Maron E, Nutt D. Biological markers of generalized anxiety disorder. Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2017;19(2):147–58. https://doi.org/10.31887/DCNS.2017.19.2/dnutt .
Article PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Costello H, Gould RL, Abrol E, Howard R. Systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between peripheral inflammatory cytokines and generalised anxiety disorder. BMJ Open. 2019;9:e027925. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-027925 .
Ansara ED. Management of treatment-resistant generalized anxiety disorder. Ment Health Clin. 2020;5(6):326–34. https://doi.org/10.9740/mhc.2020.11.326 .
Article Google Scholar
Michopoulos V, Powers A, Gillespie CF, Ressler KJ, Jovanovic T. Inflammation in fear- and anxiety-based disorders: PTSD, GAD, and beyond. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2017;42:254–70. https://doi.org/10.1038/npp.2016.146 .
Renna ME, O’Toole MS, Spaeth PE, Lekander M, Mennin DS. The association between anxiety,traumatic stress, and obsessive-compulsive disorders and chronic inflammation: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Depress Anxiety. 2018;;35(11):1081–1094. doi: 10.1002/da.22790.
Hou R, Baldwin DS. A neuroimmunological perspective on anxiety disorders. Hum Psychopharmacol. 2012;27(1):6–14.
Zhu CB, Lindler KM, Owens AW, Daws LC, Blakely RD, Hewlett WA. Interleukin-1 receptor activation by systemic lipopolysaccharide induces behavioral despair linked to MAPK regulation of CNS serotonin transporters. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2010;35:2510–20.
Munshi S, Parrilli V, Rosenkranz JA. Peripheral anti-inflammatory cytokine Interleukin-10 treatment mitigates interleukin-1β - induced anxiety and sickness behaviors in adult male rats. Behav Brain Res. 2019;17:372:112024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2019.112024 .
Article CAS Google Scholar
Bercik P, Verdu EF, Foster JA, Macri J, Potter M, Huang X, et al. Chronic gastrointestinal inflammation induces anxiety-like behavior and alters central nervous system biochemistry in mice. Gastroenterology. 2010;139(6):2102–e21121. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2010.06.063 .
Gentile A, Fresegna D, Musella A, Sepman H, Bullitta S, De Vito F et al. Interaction between interleukin-1β and type-1 cannabinoid receptor is involved in anxiety-like behavior in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. J Neuroinflammation. 2016;13(1):231. Published 2016 Sep 2. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12974-016-0682-8 .
Haji N, Mandolesi G, Gentile A, Sacchetti L, Fresegna D, Rossi S, et al. TNF-α-mediated anxiety in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis. Exp Neurol. 2012;237(2):296–303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.expneurol.2012.07.010 .
Hou R, Ye G, Liu Y, Chen X, Pan M, Zhu F, et al. Effects of SSRIs on peripheral inflammatory cytokines in patients with generalized anxiety disorder. Brain Behav Immun. 2019;81:105–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2019.06.001 .
Quagliato LA, Nardi AE. Cytokine profile in drug-naïve panic disorder patients. Transl Psychiatry. 2022;12(1):75. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-022-01835-y . Published 2022 Feb 22.
Lee HJ, Park HJ, Starkweather A, An K, Shim I. Decreased Interleukin-4 release from the neurons of the Locus Coeruleus in response to immobilization stress. Mediators Inflamm. 2016;2016:3501905. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/3501905 .
Gao T, Li B, Hou Y, Luo S, Feng L, Nie J, et al. Interleukin-4 signalling pathway underlies the anxiolytic effect induced by 3-deoxyadenosine. Psychopharmacology. 2019;236(10):2959–73. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-019-5186-7 .
Moon ML, Joesting JJ, Blevins NA, Lawson MA, Gainey SJ, Towers AE, et al. IL-4 knock out mice display anxiety-like Behavior. Behav Genet. 2015;45(4):451–60. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-015-9714-x .
Tang Z, Ye G, Chen X, Pan M, Fu J, Fu T, et al. Peripheral proinflammatory cytokines in Chinese patients with generalised anxiety disorder. J Affect Disord. 2018;225:593–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2017.08.082 .
Yang CJ, Liu D, Xu ZS, Shi SX, Du YJ. The pro-inflammatory cytokines, salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase are associated with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in patients with asthma. Neurosci Lett. 2017;656:15–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2017.07.021 .
Vogelzangs N, Beekman AT, de Jonge P, Penninx BW. Anxiety disorders and inflammation in a large adult cohort. Transl Psychiatry. 2013;3(4):e249. https://doi.org/10.1038/tp.2013.27 .
Vieira MM, Ferreira TB, Pacheco PA, Barros PO, Almeida CR, Araújo-Lima CF, et al. Enhanced Th17 phenotype in individuals with generalized anxiety disorder. J Neuroimmunol. 2010;229(1–2):212–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroim.2010.07.018 .
Hou R, Garner M, Holmes C, Osmond C, Teeling J, Lau L, et al. Peripheral inflammatory cytokines and immune balance in generalised anxiety disorder: case-controlled study. Brain Behav Immun. 2017;62:212–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2017.01.021 .
Copeland WE, Shanahan L, Worthman C, Angold A, Costello EJ. Generalized anxiety and C-reactive protein levels: a prospective, longitudinal analysis. Psychol Med. 2012;42(12):2641–50. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291712000554 .
Ferreira TB, Kasahara TM, Barros PO, Vieira MM, Bittencourt VC, Hygino J, et al. Dopamine up-regulates Th17 phenotype from individuals with generalized anxiety disorder. J Neuroimmunol. 2011;238(1–2):58–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroim.2011.06.009 .
Bankier B, Barajas J, Martinez-Rumayor A, Januzzi JL. Association between C-reactive protein and generalized anxiety disorder in stable coronary heart disease patients. Eur Heart J. 2008;29(18):2212–7. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehn326 .
Maes M, Song C, Lin A, De Jongh R, Van Gastel A, Kenis G, et al. The effects of psychological stress on humans: increased production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and a Th1-like response in stress-induced anxiety. Cytokine. 1998;10(4):313–8. https://doi.org/10.1006/cyto.1997.0290 .
Lu H, Yang Q, Zhang Y. The relation of common inflammatory cytokines with anxiety and depression and their values in estimating cardiovascular outcomes in coronary heart disease patients. J Clin Lab Anal. 2022;36(6):e24404. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcla.24404 .
Pitsavos C, Panagiotakos DB, Papageorgiou C, Tsetsekou E, Soldatos C, Stefanadis C. Anxiety in relation to inflammation and coagulation markers, among healthy adults: the ATTICA study. Atherosclerosis. 2006;185(2):320–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2005.06.001 .
Lasselin J, Elsenbruch S, Lekander M, Axelsson J, Karshikoff B, Grigoleit JS, et al. Mood disturbance during experimental endotoxemia: predictors of state anxiety as a psychological component of sickness behavior. Brain Behav Immun. 2016;57:30–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2016.01.003 .
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Zheng ZH, Tu JL, Li XH, Hua Q, Liu WZ, Liu Y, et al. Neuroinflammation induces anxiety- and depressive-like behavior by modulating neuronal plasticity in the basolateral amygdala. Brain Behav Immun. 2021;91:505–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2020.11.007 .
Mongan D, Raj SS, Föcking M, Byrne JF, Zammit S, Cannon M, et al. Associations between plasma inflammatory markers and psychotic disorder, depressive disorder and generalised anxiety disorder in early adulthood: a nested case-control study. Brain Behav Immun. 2023;111:90–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2023.03.025 .
Shen Z, Cui L, Mou S, Ren L, Yuan Y, Shen X, et al. Combining S100B and cytokines as neuro-inflammatory biomarkers for diagnosing generalized anxiety disorder: a proof-of-Concept Study based on machine learning. Front Psychiatry. 2022;13:881241. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.881241 . Published 2022 Jun 22.
Wagner EN, Strippoli MF, Ajdacic-Gross V, Gholam-Rezaee M, Glaus J, Vandeleur C, et al. Generalized anxiety disorder is prospectively Associated with decreased levels of Interleukin-6 and Adiponectin among individuals from the community. J Affect Disord. 2020;270:114–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.03.123 .
Ross SH, Cantrell DA. Signaling and function of Interleukin-2 in T lymphocytes. Annu Rev Immunol. 2018;36:411–33. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-immunol-042617-053352 .
Ye JH, Tao L, Zalcman SS. Interleukin-2 modulates N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors of native mesolimbic neurons. Brain Res. 2001;894(2):241–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0006-8993(01)02056-x .
Ye JH, Zalcman SS, Tao L. Kainate-activated currents in the ventral tegmental area of neonatal rats are modulated by interleukin-2. Brain Res. 2005;1049(2):227–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2005.05.016 .
Suhee FI, Shahriar M, Islam SMA, Bhuiyan MA, Islam MR. Elevated serum IL-2 levels are Associated with Major Depressive disorder: a case-control study. Clin Pathol. 2023;16:2632010X231180797. https://doi.org/10.1177/2632010X231180797 .
Köhler CA, Freitas TH, Maes M, de Andrade NQ, Liu CS, Fernandes BS, et al. Peripheral cytokine and chemokine alterations in depression: a meta-analysis of 82 studies. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2017;135(5):373–87. https://doi.org/10.1111/acps.12698 .
Gilio L, Fresegna D, Gentile A, Guadalupi L, Sanna K, De Vito F, et al. Preventive exercise attenuates IL-2-driven mood disorders in multiple sclerosis. Neurobiol Dis. 2022;172:105817. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbd.2022.105817 .
Carlini V, Noonan DM, Abdalalem E, Goletti D, Sansone C, Calabrone L, et al. The multifaceted nature of IL-10: regulation, role in immunological homeostasis and its relevance to cancer, COVID-19 and post-COVID conditions. Front Immunol. 2023;14:1161067. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2023.1161067 . Published 2023 Jun 8.
Fiorentino DF, Bond MW, Mosmann TR. Two types of mouse T helper cell. IV. Th2 clones secrete a factor that inhibits cytokine production by Th1 clones. J Exp Med. 1989;170(6):2081–95. https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.170.6.2081 .
Fiorentino DF, Zlotnik A, Mosmann TR, Howard M, O’Garra A. IL-10 inhibits cytokine production by activated macrophages. J Immunol. 1991;147(11):3815–22.
Fiorentino DF, Zlotnik A, Vieira P, Mosmann TR, Howard M, Moore KW, et al. IL-10 acts on the antigen-presenting cell to inhibit cytokine production by Th1 cells. J Immunol. 1991;146(10):3444–51.
Bogdan C, Vodovotz Y, Nathan C. Macrophage deactivation by interleukin 10. J Exp Med. 1991;174(6):1549–55. https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.174.6.1549 .
Murray PJ. The primary mechanism of the IL-10-regulated antiinflammatory response is to selectively inhibit transcription. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005;102(24):8686–91. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0500419102 .
Lobo-Silva D, Carriche GM, Castro AG, Roque S, Saraiva M. Balancing the immune response in the brain: IL-10 and its regulation. J Neuroinflammation. 2016;13(1):297. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12974-016-0763-8 .
Saraiva M, Vieira P, O’Garra A. Biology and therapeutic potential of interleukin-10. J Exp Med. 2020;217(1):e20190418. https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.20190418 .
Shemer A, Scheyltjens I, Frumer GR, Kim JS, Grozovski J, Ayanaw S, et al. Interleukin-10 prevents pathological Microglia Hyperactivation following Peripheral Endotoxin Challenge. Immunity. 2020;53(5):1033–e10497. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2020.09.018 .
Mesquita AR, Correia-Neves M, Roque S, Castro AG, Vieira P, Pedrosa J, et al. IL-10 modulates depressive-like behavior. J Psychiatr Res. 2008;43(2):89–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2008.02.004 .
Obuchowicz E, Bielecka AM, Paul-Samojedny M, Pudełko A, Kowalski J. Imipramine and fluoxetine inhibit LPS-induced activation and affect morphology of microglial cells in the rat glial culture. Pharmacol Rep. 2014;66(1):34–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pharep.2013.08.002 .
Blatteau JE, de Maistre S, Lambrechts K, Abraini J, Risso JJ, Vallée N. Fluoxetine stimulates anti-inflammatory IL-10 cytokine production and attenuates sensory deficits in a rat model of decompression sickness. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2015;119(12):1393–9. https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00602.2015 .
Spitzer RL, Kroenke K, Williams JB, Löwe B. A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder: the GAD-7. Arch Intern Med. 2006;166(10):1092–7. https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.166.10.1092 .
Tofani T, Mannelli LD, Zanardelli M, et al. An immunologic profile study in drug-naive generalized anxiety non depressed patients: a pilot study. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2015;25(suppl 2):S226.
Koh KB, Lee BK. Reduced lymphocyte proliferation and interleukin-2 production in anxiety disorders. Psychosom Med. 1998;60(4):479–83.
Inaba A, Tuong ZK, Zhao TX, et al. Low-dose IL-2 enhances the generation of IL-10-producing immunoregulatory B cells. Nat Commun. 2023;14(1):2071. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37424-w . Published 2023 Apr 12.
Chen H, Lin W, Zhang Y, Lin L, Chen J, Zeng Y, et al. IL-10 promotes neurite outgrowth and synapse formation in cultured cortical neurons after the oxygen-glucose deprivation via JAK1/STAT3 pathway. Sci Rep. 2016;6:30459. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep30459 . Published 2016 Jul 26.
Pu H, Wang Y, Yang T, Leak RK, Stetler RA, Yu F, et al. Interleukin-4 mitigates anxiety-like behavior and loss of neurons and fiber tracts in limbic structures in a microglial PPARγ-dependent manner after traumatic brain injury. Neurobiol Dis. 2023;180:106078. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbd.2023.106078 .
Download references
The authors are thankful to all the participants of this study. They are also thankful to the staff and physicians at the Department of Psychiatry, BSMMU, for their technical and administrative support. The authors are also thankful for the laboratory support provided by the Department of Pharmacy, University of Asia Pacific, Dhaka Bangladesh.
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency. However, we received partial funding from University of Dhaka, Bangladesh (Centennial Research grant (2nd Phase) for the year of 2020–2021, project title: “Investigation of peripheral pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines and immune balance in Bangladeshi patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder”).
Nisat Sarmin, A. S. M. Roknuzzaman and Rapty Sarker contributed equally to this work.
Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh
Nisat Sarmin, Rapty Sarker, Mamun -or-Rashid & Zobaer Al Mahmud
Department of Pharmacy, University of Asia Pacific, Dhaka, 1205, Bangladesh
A. S. M. Roknuzzaman
Department of Psychiatry, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Shahabagh, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh
MMA Shalahuddin Qusar
Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh
Sitesh Chandra Bachar
School of Pharmacy, BRAC University, Kha 224 Bir Uttam Rafiqul Islam Avenue, Merul Badda, Dhaka, 1212, Bangladesh
Eva Rahman Kabir & Md. Rabiul Islam
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar
NS, ASMR, RS, MRI, and ZAM: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Writing – original draft. MR, MMASQ, SCB, and ZAM: Funding acquisition, Project administration, Validation. ERK, MRI, and ZAM: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – review & editing.
Correspondence to Md. Rabiul Islam or Zobaer Al Mahmud .
Ethics approval and consent to participate.
The research protocol was approved by the Research Ethics Committee (REC) of the University of Asia Pacific, Dhaka, Bangladesh (Ref: UAP/REC/2023/202-S). We briefed the objectives of the study to the participants, and informed consent was obtained from each of them. We conducted this investigation following the Helsinki Declaration’s guiding principles.
Not applicable.
The authors declare no competing interests.
Publisher’s note.
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
Reprints and permissions
Cite this article.
Sarmin, N., Roknuzzaman, A.S.M., Sarker, R. et al. Association of interleukin-2 and interleukin-10 with the pathophysiology and development of generalized anxiety disorder: a case-control study. BMC Psychiatry 24 , 462 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-024-05911-z
Download citation
Received : 31 December 2023
Accepted : 13 June 2024
Published : 20 June 2024
DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-024-05911-z
Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:
Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.
Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative
ISSN: 1471-244X
Gain end-to-end visibility and insights like never before..
Create exceptional digital experiences built on deep network observability and critical network monitoring.
Boost efficiency and revenue with Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance (formerly Accedian Skylight), delivering service assurance that continuously monitors and optimizes digital experiences.
Gain a single view of granular performance metrics and third-party data to accelerate MTTR.
Find transient issues with precise synthetic network and service testing.
Premium, SLA-backed services and end-customer portals are just a click away.
Be proactive, not reactive. Put the power of your multivendor infrastructure to work for a trouble-free network.
See more revenue from portal fees and capacity purchases when you give customers deeper visibility and transparency with Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance.
Granular, real-time visibility.
Perform end-to-end and full mesh testing with microsecond precision and make hidden microbursts a thing of the past.
Enjoy 99.997% uptime and take full control over network performance for greater reliability.
Automatically correlate sensor metrics with third-party sources of performance data to improve ROI and create better digital experiences.
Ready-made customer portals differentiate services, boost revenue, and enhance satisfaction.
See how Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance enables efficient troubleshooting and SLA assurance—all while lowering operational costs.
Solve the challenges of fragmented multidomain tools and poor visibility on service quality. Discover how Provider Connectivity Assurance can help you simplify operations.
Real-time SLA visibility
Monitor and police SLAs for accountability, while proactively addressing performance issues.
Critical network monitoring
Improve operational efficiency with proactive assurance and microsecond visibility for faster issue resolution and better experiences.
B2B service differentiation
Create new revenue opportunities to upsell and differentiate your services with multitenant end-customer portals for real-time service-level agreement (SLA) visibility and alerting.
Automated assurance
Detect issues early when you automate assurance for the entire service lifecycle with real-time service visibility and predictive analytics.
Multilayer assurance
Get a single view of performance across multiple network layers, like segment routing and routed optical networking, to reduce tools and drive down MTTR.
Mobile backhaul and edge monitoring
Optimize digital experiences with real-time service visibility, while assuring your end-to-end 5G transport.
Ai-enabled predictive analytics.
Get an ML-assisted view of your entire network and gain powerful performance insights.
Network-wide service performance visibility. Deployable anywhere, at scale.
"we can look at network performance at any level.".
With Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance, Bouygues Telecom now has a complete "telescopic and microscopic" view of network and service performance in a single tool.
André Ethier, Network Quality Engineer
Bouygues Telecom
This is extremely powerful in terms of customer experience. It helps to avoid tickets, as customers can see for themselves what happened with their service. This reduces tension and increases customer satisfaction.
Bart Janssens, Senior Specialist, Packet Architecture
"With service-centric assurance and granular visibility we can prevent degradations, automate actions for improvements, and better communicate with our customers."
Mahesh Anjan, Senior Product Technology Executive
Cisco crosswork network automation.
Drive network efficiency and enhance experiences.
Plug innovation into your network.
Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance helps you improve service quality, lower costs, and deliver outstanding user experiences with a single view of service performance across the entire network
BMC Urology volume 24 , Article number: 131 ( 2024 ) Cite this article
91 Accesses
Metrics details
The incidence of recurrent hernia after radical resection of prostate cancer is high, so this article discusses the incidence and risk factors of inguinal hernia after radical resection of prostate cancer.
This case control study was conducted in The First People’s Hospital of Huzhou clinical data of 251 cases underwent radical resection of prostate cancer in this hospital from March 2019 to May 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. According to the occurrence of inguinal hernia, the subjects were divided into study group and control group, and the clinical data of each group were statistically analyzed, Multivariate Logistic analysis was performed to find independent influencing factors for predicting the occurrence of inguinal hernia. The Kaplan-Meier survival curve was drawn according to the occurrence and time of inguinal hernia.
The overall incidence of inguinal hernia after prostate cancer surgery was 14.7% (37/251), and the mean time was 8.58 ± 4.12 months. The average time of inguinal hernia in patients who received lymph node dissection was 7.61 ± 4.05 (month), and that in patients who did not receive lymph node dissection was 9.16 ± 4.15 (month), and there was no significant difference between them ( P > 0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in the incidence of inguinal hernia with age, BMI, hypertension, diabetes, PSA, previous abdominal operations and operative approach ( P > 0.05), but there were statistically significant differences with surgical method and pelvic lymph node dissection ( P < 0.05). The incidence of pelvic lymph node dissection in the inguinal hernia group was 24.3% (14/57), which was significantly higher than that in the control group 11.8% (23/194). Logistic regression analysis showed that pelvic lymph node dissection was a risk factor for inguinal hernia after prostate cancer surgery (OR = 0.413, 95%Cl: 0.196–0.869, P = 0.02). Kaplan-Meier survival curve showed that the rate of inguinal hernia in the group receiving pelvic lymph node dissection was significantly higher than that in the control group ( P < 0.05).
Pelvic lymph node dissection is a risk factor for inguinal hernia after radical resection of prostate cancer.
Peer Review reports
Prostate cancer is a common malignant tumor in urology, which occurs in the prostate epithelial tissue, There are an average of 190,000 new cases of prostate cancer each year and about 80,000 deaths worldwide each year [ 1 , 2 ]. In recent years, the incidence of prostate cancer has increased year by year, seriously affecting the health and quality of life of patients [ 3 ]. Worldwide, the incidence of prostate cancer is second only to lung cancer, and its death rate ranks 7th among male cancer causes [ 4 ]. Radical resection of prostate cancer (RP) is the main means for the treatment of prostate cancer, and the surgical methods are generally divided into open radical resection of prostate cancer (RRP) and minimally invasive radical resection of prostate cancer, the latter including laparoscopic radical resection of prostate cancer (LRP) and robot-assisted laparoscopic radical resection of prostate cancer (RALP) [ 5 , 6 , 7 ].
Inguinal hernia (IH) is a relatively common disease in clinic, which is caused by increased abdominal pressure, thinning of abdominal wall, and bulging of abdominal organs. Inguinal hernias include direct hernias, oblique hernias and femoral hernias [ 8 ]. At the onset, lumps protruding outward from the inguinal region can be seen. If the intestines cannot return to the abdominal cavity in time, it is easy to cause intestinal necrosis, intestinal obstruction, intestinal perforation and other complications, which may endanger the life safety of patients in severe cases [ 9 , 10 ].
With the extensive development of radical resection of prostate cancer in various hospitals, the problem of postoperative inguinal hernia has gradually attracted the attention of urologists. The previously reported incidence of IH after radical prostate cancer surgery was approximately 13.7% [ 11 ]. A study by Nagatani S et al. showed that the incidence of inguinal hernia after radical prostate cancer surgery was 7-21%, most of which occurred within 2 years after surgery [ 12 ]. A study by Stranne J et al. showed that the cumulative risk of IH occurrence within 48 months in open radical resection for prostate cancer group and non-surgical group was 12.2% and 5.8%, respectively [ 13 ]. Most cases of IH require surgery due to pain, discomfort, and incarceration and are considered an advanced complication of radical resection of prostate cancer. The adhesion after radical resection of prostate cancer also increases the difficulty of hernia repair. Therefore, urologists need to be concerned not only about the risk of urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction after radical resection of prostate cancer, but also about the occurrence of IH.
In recent 10 years, many scholars around the world have studied the risk factors of inguinal hernia after radical prostate cancer surgery. Currently, most of the studies believe that anastomotic stenosis, previous history of inguinal hernia, and patent processus vaginalis are risk factors, However there is no consensus on the risk of lymph node dissection. For example, Niitsu H et al. believed that pelvic lymph node dissection during radical prostate cancer operation might damage the pectineal foramina, thereby increasing the risk of inguinal hernia [ 14 ]. Contrary to the results of Johan Stranne’s study, the author suggested that previous incidence of inguinal hernia and advanced age increased the risk of inguinal hernia after radical prostate cancer surgery, and pelvic lymph node dissection was not a significant risk factor [ 15 ]. There is also no consistent conclusion on the influence of BMI, age and surgical method.
Therefore, in order to further investigate the risk factors of inguinal hernia after radical prostate cancer surgery, especially the correlation between pelvic lymph node dissection and inguinal hernia, this study was conducted. This study retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 251 patients who underwent radical resection of prostate cancer in our hospital from March 2019 to May 2021, and investigated the risk factors of postoperative inguinal hernia. It is reported as follows:
The objective of this study was to explore the incidence and risk factors of inguinal hernia after radical resection of prostate cancer, which provides reference for further research and guide the clinician to choose the appropriate surgical method according to the patient’s condition.
The patient was also examined by B-ultrasound every 3 months at the outpatient PSA review to verify the occurrence of inguinal hernia. The subjects were divided into the inguinal hernia group (study group) and the non-inguinal hernia group (control group), If the diagnosis of inguinal hernia occurred, the follow-up was completed, and the type and time of inguinal hernia were recorded; otherwise, the follow-up was 2 years, and the relevant clinical parameters of each group were statistically analyzed (age, BMI, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, PSA value, previous abdominal operations, operation methods, operative approach, pelvic lymph node dissection)and the correlation between these parameters and the occurrence of inguinal hernia was analyzed, and the risk factors of inguinal hernia were found by Logistic regression analysis. According to the occurrence and time of inguinal hernia, Kaplan-Meier survival curve was drawn to compare the differences between the two groups.
The content of this study has been approved by the Ethics Committee of our hospital(approval number, 2,018,137). All patients signed informed consent forms. This is the protocol was registered on the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry. The study is planned to begin in mid-March 2019 and is planned to end by May 2021.
Patients who received radical surgery for prostate cancer in Huzhou First People’s Hospital from March 2019 to May 2021; PSA was reviewed every 3 months after surgery, and check the inguinal area for protruding masses. Complete the 2-year follow-up plan.
Patients with inguinal hernia before operation; patients with prior inguinal hernia surgery.
SPSS 21.0 statistical software was used for statistical processing, the research data followed normal distribution, and the measured data were represented by X ± S. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
From March 2019 to May 2021, 318 cases of radical prostatectomy were performed in our hospital, during the follow-up period, a total of 28 cases died of other diseases, a total of 39 cases were lost to follow-up or clinical data were incomplete, and a total of 251 cases were finally followed up. There were no significant differences in age, BMI, hypertension, diabetes, PSA, previous abdominal operations and operative approach between the two groups ( P > 0.05), while there were significant differences in surgical method and pelvic lymph node dissection ( P < 0.05). The incidence of pelvic lymph node dissection in the inguinal hernia group 24.3% (14/57) was significantly higher than that in the control group 11.8% (23/194). See Table 1 for details.
Multivariate Logistic regression analysis of risk factors showed that pelvic lymph node dissection was a risk factor for inguinal hernia after prostate cancer surgery (OR =0.413, 95%Cl: 0.196-0.869, P = 0.02). There was no statistical significance in age, BMI, hypertension, diabetes, PSA value, previous abdominal operations, operation method, operative approach were not risk factors for inguinal hernia ( P > 0.05). See Table 2 for details.
The cases of inguinal hernia were grouped according to whether or not they had received pelvic lymph node dissection. The incidence and time of inguinal hernia in the two groups were recorded, and the Kaplan-Meier survival curve was drawn. The overall incidence of inguinal hernia after radical resection of prostate cancer was 14.7% (37/251), There were 26 cases with indirect hernia, accounting for 70.2% (26/37), 21.6% (8/37) with direct hernia, 8.2% (3/37) with oblique hernia and direct hernia, and the mean time of occurrence was 8.58 ± 4.12 months. The average time of inguinal hernia was 7.61 ± 4.05 (month) for those who received lymph node dissection and 9.16 ± 4.15 (month) for those who did not receive lymph node dissection, and there was no significant difference between them ( P > 0.05). The incidence of inguinal hernia in the group receiving pelvic lymph node dissection was significantly higher than that in the control group ( P < 0.05). See Fig. 1 for details.
Survival curve of pelvic lymph node dissection and inguinal hernia (month)
In recent years, the incidence of prostate cancer has increased year by year, seriously affecting the health and quality of life of patients, the complications after radical prostate cancer surgery mainly include urinary incontinence and sexual dysfunction, but inguinal hernia is also one of the common complications [ 16 ]. Liu L et al. found that open radical resection for prostate cancer technique and advanced patient age, especially those over 80 years old, are associated with a higher incidence of IH. Appropriate prophylaxis during surgery should be evaluated in high-risk patients [ 17 ].In some regional studies, low BMI has been identified as a risk factor for IH, and the risk threshold for BMI has not been determined, which is about BMI < 25 kg/m2 [ 18 ]. However, a number of studies have found that low BMI does not increase the risk of postoperative IH [ 19 , 20 ]. At present, there is no uniform conclusion on the risk of IH between open radical resection for prostate cancer and laparoscopic radical prostatectomy. The study of Alder R scholars believed that the incidence of IH after laparoscopic radical prostatectomy was relatively low [ 21 ], while Otaki T’s study shows that the incidence of IH after laparoscopic radical prostatectomy is 7.3% and that of open radical resection for prostate cancer is 8.4%, showing no statistical difference between them [ 20 ]. There is no consensus on whether pelvic lymph node dissection is a risk factor for inguinal hernia [ 14 , 15 ]. In short, the specific mechanism of inguinal hernia after radical prostate cancer surgery is unclear.
This study retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 251 cases treated in our hospital, and found that the overall incidence of inguinal hernia was 14.7% (37/251), which was consistent with most of the current research results. We also found that the average time of occurrence of inguinal hernia after surgery was 8.58 ± 4.12 months, which provided certain guidance for our postoperative follow-up time.
In this study, through Logistic multivariate analysis, it was found that pelvic lymph node dissection was a risk factor for inguinal hernia after prostate cancer surgery (OR = 0.413, 95%Cl: 0.196–0.869, P = 0.02). There was no statistical significance in age, BMI, hypertension, diabetes, PSA value, previous abdominal operations, operation method, operative approach and the occurrence of inguinal hernia after prostate cancer surgery ( P > 0.05),but there were statistically significant differences with surgical method and pelvic lymph node dissection ( P < 0.05). Therefore, the advantages and disadvantages of pelvic lymph node dissection should be reasonably evaluated for low-medium-risk prostate cancer patients, so as to avoid the occurrence of inguinal hernia. By drawing Kaplan-Meier survival curve, it was found that the rate of inguinal hernia in the group receiving pelvic lymph node dissection was significantly higher than that in the control group. Some studies believe that pelvic lymph node dissection during radical resection of prostate cancer operation will cause postoperative scar contraction in the inguinal region, resulting in an increase in abdominal pressure outward and downward, resulting in an increase in the incidence of inguinal hernia. Lodding P designed a comparative study between the group of radical resection of prostate cancer plus pelvic lymph node dissection, the group of pelvic lymph node dissection and the group without operation. They found that the incidence of inguinal hernia in the three observation groups was 13.6%, 7.6% and 3.1%, respectively, and the difference between the prostatectomy group and the group without operation was statistically significant. There was no significant difference between the group and pelvic lymph node dissection group. This result implies that pelvic lymph node dissection is an important factor in the development of inguinal hernia [ 22 ]. Another Sun M study compared the incidence of inguinal hernias after radical prostate cancer surgery and pelvic lymph node dissection alone, and showed that the risk of inguinal hernias increased by 6.8% and 7.8% at 5 and 10 years, respectively, in the radical prostate cancer resection group compared with the pelvic lymph node dissection group [ 23 ]. Niitsu H et al. believed that pelvic lymph node dissection during radical resection of prostate cancer might damage the pectineal foramina, while inguinal hernia originated from the defective pectineal foramina [ 14 ].
Shimbo M et al. found that due to prostatectomy and vesicourethral anastomosis, preoperative and postoperative sagittal MRI images showed that the rectovesical excavation (RE) was moved downward by about 2 to 3 cm [ 24 ]. Accordingly, they speculated that due to the displacement of RE, the peritoneum and vas deferens after urethrovesical anastomosis were pulled, which further pulled the opening of the inner ring and caused it to shift medially, which led to the occurrence of postoperative IH. Based on this theory, many scholars have prevented the occurrence of hernia after operation by reducing the tension of peritoneum and vas deferens at the inner ring and ligation and rupture of sheathing process. Several other articles have reported the role of preserving the retropubic space (RS) in preventing IH after radical resection of prostate cancer. Chang KD et al. found that robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomywith retained Retzius space significantly reduced the incidence of postoperative IH compared with standard robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy [ 25 ]. In addition, the study of Matsubara et al. also showed that compared with standard open radical resection for prostate cancer, the incidence of IH after transperineal radical resection of prostate cancer with retained anatomical structures such as the Retzius space was lower [ 26 ]. Therefore, urological surgeons can take some effective measures in the operation to prevent the recurrence of inguinal hernia.
In this study, we identified risk factors for inguinal hernia after pelvic lymphadenectomy for prostate cancer. Other risk factors such as age, BMI, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, PSA value, history of abdominal surgery, operative method, operative approach were not significant in multivariate analysis, which was inconsistent with the results of Iwamoto H et al [ 27 ]. They found that dilatation of the right internal inguinal ring and different manipulation of the medial peritoneal incision of the ventral femoral ring were independent risk factors for IH after laparoscopic radical prostatectomy. The reason why postoperative IH occurs more often on the right side is not known. Alder R et al. found that the incidence of IH after open radical prostate cancer treatment was significantly higher than laparoscopic radical prostate cancer treatment [ 21 ], but our study did not show a difference between the two groups, possibly due to the small number of cases included in open radical prostate surgery.
In summary, the incidence of inguinal hernia after radical prostate cancer surgery is relatively high, and the specific cause is still unclear. Our study shows that pelvic lymph node dissection is a risk factor for inguinal hernia.
The sample size of this study is small, and it belongs to a single-center study, so the representativeness of the research conclusions may not be strong. This time, we followed up the samples for 2 years, which was not long enough and may have overlooked the real incidence of inguinal hernia. In addition, this study is a retrospective study, and the clinical parameters observed are not very comprehensive, which may ignore the influence of other factors on the IH. Because our data is derived from clinical data, some data cannot be detected. These problems need further study by more scholars.
We cannot provide and share our datasets in publicly available repositories because of informed consent for participants as confidential patient data. Data may be obtained from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Sekhoacha M, Riet K, Motloung P et al. Prostate Cancer Review: Genetics, diagnosis, Treatment options, and alternative approaches. Molecules 2022; 27.
Rawla P. Epidemiology of prostate Cancer. World J Oncol. 2019;10(2):63–89.
Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Vietri MT, D’Elia G, Caliendo G et al. Hereditary prostate Cancer: genes related, Target Therapy and Prevention. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22.
Williams IS, McVey A, Perera S, et al. Modern paradigms for prostate cancer detection and management. Med J Aust. 2022;217:424–33.
Article PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Achard V, Panje CM, Engeler D, et al. Localized Local Adv Prostate Cancer: Treat Options Oncol. 2021;99:413–21.
CAS Google Scholar
Davis M, Egan J, Marhamati S, et al. Retzius-Sparing Robot-assisted robotic prostatectomy: past, Present, and Future. Urol Clin North Am. 2021;48:11–23.
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Heidenreich A, Pfister D. Radical cytoreductive prostatectomy in men with prostate cancer and oligometastatic disease. Curr Opin Urol. 2020;30:90–7.
Miller HJ. Inguinal hernia: mastering the anatomy. Surg Clin North Am. 2018;98:607–21.
Gamborg S, Marcussen ML, Öberg S, Rosenberg J. Inguinal hernia repair but no Hernia Present: a Nationwide Cohort Study. Surg Technol Int. 2022;40:171–4.
PubMed Google Scholar
Chien S, Cunningham D, Khan KS. Inguinal hernia repair: a systematic analysis of online patient information using the modified ensuring Quality Information for patients tool. Ann R Coll Surg Engl. 2022;104:242–8.
CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Perez AJ, Campbell S. Inguinal hernia repair in older persons. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2022;23(4):563–7.
Nagatani S, Tsumura H, Kanehiro T, et al. Inguinal hernia associated with radical prostatectomy. Surg Today. 2021;51:792–7.
Stranne J, Johansson E, Nilsson A, et al. Inguinal hernia after radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer: results from a randomized setting and a nonrandomized setting. Eur Urol. 2010;58:719–26.
Niitsu H, Taomoto J, Mita K, et al. Inguinal hernia repair with the mesh plug method is safe after radical retropubic prostatectomy. Surg Today. 2014;44:897–901.
Stranne J, Hugosson J, Lodding P. Post-radical retropubic prostatectomy inguinal hernia: an analysis of risk factors with special reference to preoperative inguinal hernia morbidity and pelvic lymph node dissection. J Urol. 2006;176:2072–6.
Tolle J, Knipper S, Pose R, et al. Evaluation of risk factors for adverse functional outcomes after Radical Prostatectomy in patients with previous transurethral surgery of the prostate. Urol Int. 2021;105:408–13.
Liu L, Xu H, Qi F, et al. Incidence and risk factors of inguinal hernia occurred after radical prostatectomy-comparisons of different approaches. BMC Surg. 2020;20(1):218.
Nilsson H, Stranne J, Hugosson J, et al. Risk of hernia formation after radical prostatectomy: a comparison between open and robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy within the prospectively controlled LAPPRO trial. Hernia. 2022;26:157–64.
Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar
Sim KC, Sung DJ, Han NY, et al. Preoperative CT findings of subclinical hernia can predict for postoperative inguinal hernia following robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy. Abdom Radiol (NY). 2018;43:1231–6.
Otaki T, Hasegawa M, Yuzuriha S, et al. Clinical impact of psoas muscle volume on the development of inguinal hernia after robot-assisted radical prostatectomy. Surg Endosc. 2021;35:3320–8.
Alder R, Alder R, Rosenberg J. Incidence of Inguinal Hernia after Radical Prostatectomy: a systematic review and Meta-analysis. J Urol. 2020;203(2):265–74.
Lodding P, Bergdahl C, Nyberg M, et al. Inguinal hernia after radical retropubic prostatectomy for prostate cancer: a study of incidence and risk factors in comparison to no operation and lymphadenectomy. J Urol. 2001;166:964–7.
Sun M, Lughezzani G, Alasker A, et al. Comparative study of inguinal hernia repair after radical prostatectomy, prostate biopsy, transurethral resection of the prostate or pelvic lymph node dissection. J Urol. 2010;183:970–5.
Shimbo M, Endo F, Matsushita K, et al. Risk factors and a Novel Prevention technique for Inguinal Hernia after Robot-assisted radical prostatectomy. Urol Int. 2017;98:54–60. Incidence.
Chang KD, Abdel Raheem A, Santok GDR, et al. Anatomical Retzius-space preservation is associated with lower incidence of postoperative inguinal hernia development after robot-assisted radical prostatectomy. Hernia. 2017;21:555–61.
Matsubara A, Yoneda T, Nakamoto T, et al. Inguinal hernia after radical perineal prostatectomy: comparison with the retropubic approach. Urology. 2007;70:1152–6.
Iwamoto H, Morizane S, Hikita K, et al. Postoperative inguinal hernia after robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer: evaluation of risk factors and recommendation of a convenient prophylactic procedure. Cent Eur J Urol. 2019;72(4):418–24.
Google Scholar
Download references
Not applicable.
This work was supported by the following funding: the grant 2019GY23 from Huzhou Science and Technology Bureau Public welfare application research project of China.
Authors and affiliations.
Department of Urology, The First People’s Hospital of Huzhou, #158, Square Road, Huzhou, 313000, China
An-Ping Xiang, Yue-Fan Shen, Xu-Feng Shen & Si-Hai Shao
Department of Urology, Huzhou Key Laboratory of Precise Diagnosis and Treatment of Urinary Tumors, Huzhou, 313000, China
An-Ping Xiang
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar
An-Ping Xiang designed the study and drafted and revised the manuscript, Yue-Fan Shen recorded the patients cases, Xu-Feng Shen participated in the follow-up. An-Ping Xiang and Si-Hai Shao analyzes the data and draw graphs.
Correspondence to Si-Hai Shao .
Ethics approval and consent to participate.
The study protocol was approved by the ethics committee of the First People’s Hospital of Huzhou (approval number, 2018137). We have obtained written informed consent from all study participants. All of the procedures were performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and relevant policies in China.
Competing interests.
The authors declare no competing interests.
Publisher’s note.
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
Reprints and permissions
Cite this article.
Xiang, AP., Shen, YF., Shen, XF. et al. Correlation between the incidence of inguinal hernia and risk factors after radical prostatic cancer surgery: a case control study. BMC Urol 24 , 131 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12894-024-01493-w
Download citation
Received : 24 September 2023
Accepted : 30 April 2024
Published : 22 June 2024
DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12894-024-01493-w
Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:
Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.
Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative
ISSN: 1471-2490
IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
Case studies are good for describing, comparing, evaluating and understanding different aspects of a research problem. Table of contents. When to do a case study. Step 1: Select a case. Step 2: Build a theoretical framework. Step 3: Collect your data. Step 4: Describe and analyze the case.
Case studies, which involve an in-depth look at a single subject, provide very accurate information via interviews and researcher observations. However, they take a lot of time and, therefore ...
The differences are apparent in terms of emphasis (e.g., more observations in ethnog-raphy, more interviews in grounded theory) and extent of data collection (e.g., only interviews in phenomenology, multiple forms in case study research to provide the in-depth case picture). At the data analysis stage, the differences are most pronounced.
Case studies tend to focus on qualitative data using methods such as interviews, observations, and analysis of primary and secondary sources (e.g., newspaper articles, photographs, official records). Sometimes a case study will also collect quantitative data. Example: Mixed methods case study. For a case study of a wind farm development in a ...
A case study is one of the most commonly used methodologies of social research. This article attempts to look into the various dimensions of a case study research strategy, the different epistemological strands which determine the particular case study type and approach adopted in the field, discusses the factors which can enhance the effectiveness of a case study research, and the debate ...
A case study interview allows the hiring manager to see your skills in action and how you approach business challenges. But it also teaches you a lot about the company (even if you're doing most of the talking). In a sense, you're behaving as an employee during a case study interview. This gives you a peek behind the curtain, allowing you ...
A case study involves an in-depth analysis of a specific individual, group, or situation, aiming to understand the complexities and unique aspects of the subject. It often involves collecting qualitative data through interviews, observations, and document analysis. On the other hand, a survey is a structured data collection method that involves ...
Differences between published case studies can make it difficult for researchers to define and understand case study as a methodology. ... providing insight on researcher perspectives and interaction with the case. Forty-four interviews were conducted, which focussed on how GPs conducted consultations, and the form, ...
Although case studies have been discussed extensively in the literature, little has been written about the specific steps one may use to conduct case study research effectively (Gagnon, 2010; Hancock & Algozzine, 2016).Baskarada (2014) also emphasized the need to have a succinct guideline that can be practically followed as it is actually tough to execute a case study well in practice.
Unlike typical interviews, case study interviews test your skill set through live problem solving. In this video, learn about when and how case study interview questions are used and why employers ...
Case studies should also provide multiple sources of data, a case study database, and a clear chain of evidence among the questions asked, the data collected, and the conclusions drawn . Sources of evidence for case studies include interviews, documentation, archival records, direct observations, participant-observation, and physical artifacts.
Hi Pete, as Lorena told you, Case study is a method and interview is an instrument for data collection for using as part any method. Please read: Creswell, J.W. (2013, 1998) "Qualitative inquiry ...
All Answers (1) A Case Study is a research method which examines and analyses data in depth from a small number of instances; outcomes are generalised to other instances in which the same ...
Interviewing is a very effective method of data collection. It is a systematic and objective conversation between an investigator and respondent for collecting relevant data for a specific research study. Along with conversation, learning about the gestures, facial expressions and environmental conditions of a respondent are also very important.
ISBN: 9781446248645. Publication Date: 2015-10-01. This sharp, stimulating title provides a structure for thinking about, analysing and designing case study. It explores the historical, theoretical and practical bones of modern case study research, offering to social scientists a framework for understanding and working with this form of inquiry.
Two case interview styles exist: Interviewer-led (used at McKinsey) interviewee-led (used almost everywhere else) When we coach candidates 1:1, we will focus on the differences in great detail - but that's not the point of this article. Within both case styles, you will encounter a variety of case interview types.
Interviewing. This is the most common format of data collection in qualitative research. According to Oakley, qualitative interview is a type of framework in which the practices and standards be not only recorded, but also achieved, challenged and as well as reinforced.[] As no research interview lacks structure[] most of the qualitative research interviews are either semi-structured, lightly ...
A case study is a project breakdown hosted on your portfolio. Where as, an interview deck is a PDF style of one to three projects. Great, now that we got that covered let's get into the differences!
Résumé. Case study is a common methodology in the social sciences (management, psychology, science of education, political science, sociology). A lot of methodological papers have been dedicated to case study but, paradoxically, the question "what is a case?" has been less studied.
Key Differences. A case study involves a detailed examination of a single subject, such as an individual, event, or organization, to gain in-depth insights. In contrast, a survey is a research tool used to gather data from a sample population, focusing on gathering quantitative information or opinions through questions. 14.
Interviews may be structured, semi-structured or unstructured, 3 according to the purpose of the study, with less structured interviews facilitating a more in depth and flexible interviewing ...
Interviews & Focus Groups. Interviews are a qualitative research method and typically takes the form of a conversation where questions are asked to elicit information. The interviewer poses questions to the interviewee, in an alternating series of usually brief questions and answers. The questions may be highly structured, open-ended, or ...
Our study sample consisted of 350 African-American men living in Durham, North Carolina. Participants were randomized into either a focus group arm or individual interview arm, and were asked the same open-ended questions about their health-care seeking behavior.
Summary. It's critical to avoid the financial burden of making a wrong hire. Two approaches to conducting interviews — structured and conversational — can yield different insights about a ...
Objective:This study scrutinizes the meaning of deterioration in psychotherapy beyond the widely used statistical definition of reliable symptom increase pre-to-post treatment.Method:An explanatory sequential mixed-methods multiple case study was conducted, combining quantitative pre-post outcome evaluation of self-reported depression symptoms and qualitative analysis of patients' interviews.
Stay up-to-date with the AHA View All News The American Historical Review is the flagship journal of the AHA and the journal of record for the historical discipline in the United States, bringing together scholarship from every major field of historical study. Learn More Perspectives on History is the newsmagazine…
Using a qualitative research method, the case study was used to look at CC implementation in a comprehensive and in-depth way. Interview and observation methods were employed to collect data. One hundred interviewees from each union, including service providers, service users, and LG officials, were consulted in equal numbers from May to July 2019.
Clinical characteristics and laboratory findings. Clinical characteristics and laboratory analysis results are presented in Table 2.GAD patients displayed markedly higher serum levels of IL-2 (14.81 ± 2.88 pg/ml) compared to HCs (8.08 ± 1.10 pg/ml), and the difference reached the statistically significant level (p = 0.037, two-tailed unpaired t-test) (Table 2; Fig. 1).
Provider Connectivity Assurance provides cloud-native service assurance with AI-native performance analytics and end-user experience solutions.
The incidence of recurrent hernia after radical resection of prostate cancer is high, so this article discusses the incidence and risk factors of inguinal hernia after radical resection of prostate cancer. This case control study was conducted in The First People's Hospital of Huzhou clinical data of 251 cases underwent radical resection of prostate cancer in this hospital from March 2019 to ...