It also supports the possibility that anxiety and depression add to the stress response and weaken the immune system, triggering inflammatory mediators involved in CRF and leading to pro‐inflammatory changes in the body.33 These findings are aligned with reviews reporting depression and anxiety as prominent correlates of CRF, 25, 33, 34 and lend strength to the argument that psychological distress needs to be accounted for when investigating the usefulness of leptin as a biomarker for CRF. Here, LEP is linked to major depressive disorder.