A systemic disease is a disease that affects all elements of the same tissue and has repercussions in several regions of the body. This is the case, for example, of rheumatoid arthritis or systemic lupus erythematosus. An international team of researchers led by the University of Granada (Spain) claims that the Depression should also be considered a systemic disease because it affects the whole body.
Their work, published in the Journal of clinical psychiatryshow that there is a link between depression and cardiovascular disorders as well as with cancer, which would explain why people who suffer from depression die younger.
A biological explanation
This meta-analysis looks at 29 previous studies involving more than 3900 people and is the first to detail what happens in the body of people who suffer from depression. The researchers discovered that the disease causes a state of oxidative stress in the body, causing cell breakdown and a drop in zinc and uric acid levels.
Oxidative stress is also linked to over a hundred pathologies such as the cancer, diabetes, cataract or even thehas Alzheimer’s disease.
A year ago, another study showed that depression was associated at an increased risk of Parkinson’s disease.
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