Possible link of Interleukin-6 and Interleukin-2 with psychiatric diagnosis, ethnicity, disaster or BMI.

Background: Cytokines are of increasing interest as markers for stress responses, mental disorders and general health. We assessed associations of two cytokines with several factors among relocated hurricane survivors and controls.

Methods: We examined 40 relocated hurricane survivors and 40 demographically matched (frequency matching) Oklahoma controls to assess relationships of Interleukin-2 (IL-2) and Interleukin-6 (IL-6) with psychiatric diagnoses (SCID-IV), demographic variables, hurricane exposure and body mass index (BMI).