Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Psychiatry. Nov 19, 2026; 16(11): 122026
Published online Nov 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.122026
Published online Nov 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.122026
Serum proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 levels correlate with depression severity in post-stroke patients
Hong-Yan Song, Yue Yang, Shu-Gen Wang, Department of Pharmacy, Cangzhou Central Hospital, Cangzhou 061000, Hebei Province, China
Xiao-Yang Sun, Ethics Committee Office, Cangzhou Central Hospital, Cangzhou 061000, Hebei Province, China
Meng-Jun Zhang, Department One of Neurology, Hejian Branch of Cangzhou Central Hospital, Cangzhou 061000, Hebei Province, China
Author contributions: Song HY conceived and designed the study; Song HY, Yang Y, and Wang SG collected data and coordinated laboratory procedures; Sun XY oversaw ethical compliance; Zhang MJ provided clinical neurology expertise and contributed to patient follow-up; Song HY drafted the manuscript; and all authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.
AI contribution statement: The authors declare that no AI tools were used in the preparation of this manuscript, including study design, data collection, data analysis, interpretation of results, manuscript writing, or language editing. The authors assume full responsibility for the integrity, accuracy, originality, and scientific validity of the manuscript and all submitted materials.
Supported by Key Research and Development Program of Cangzhou, No. 23244102156.
Institutional review board statement: The Ethics Committee of Cangzhou Central Hospital reviewed and approved this study (approval No. 2025-114-02). All procedures were conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.
Informed consent statement: The Ethics Committee of Cangzhou Central Hospital waived the requirement for written informed consent because this was a retrospective study using de-identified clinical data.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Data sharing statement: The datasets generated and analyzed during this study are available from the corresponding author (Hong-Yan Song, 963809412@qq.com) upon reasonable request. No additional data are available.
Corresponding author: Hong-Yan Song, Department of Pharmacy, Cangzhou Central Hospital, No. 16 Xinhua West Road, Cangzhou 061000, Hebei Province, China. 963809412@qq.com
Received: April 24, 2026
Revised: June 10, 2026
Accepted: September 10, 2026
Published online: November 19, 2026
Processing time: 197 Days and 16.5 Hours
Revised: June 10, 2026
Accepted: September 10, 2026
Published online: November 19, 2026
Processing time: 197 Days and 16.5 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: In this retrospective study of patients with post-stroke depression, the addition of evolocumab to atorvastatin was associated with greater reductions in serum proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) concentrations and depression scores than atorvastatin alone. Serum PCSK9 concentrations correlated positively with depression severity at week 12 (r = 0.652). The combination-therapy group had a higher treatment response rate (73.4% vs 48.4%, P = 0.003), lower inflammatory marker concentrations, and higher cognitive assessment scores. These findings support further evalua