People suffering from recurrent depressive disorders have markers on metabolites different from the general population. Thanks to a blood test, it is possible to detect with 90% precision the warning signs of recurrent depressive disorders.
-1610548113.jpg "Recurrent depressive disorders alter the components of our metabolism")
- People with recurrent depressive disorders have different markers on their metabolisms.
- By studying these markers, it is possible to predict whether a person will suffer from depression with 90% accuracy.
- According to the researchers, 20.6% of the population in the United States will experience a depressive episode during their lifetime.
Researchers from the University of California at San Diego (USA) have discovered that certain metabolites could be used as an indicator to predict the risk of recurrent depressive disorders in certain people. The results of this study were published on January 11, 2021 in the journal Translational Psychiatry.
A disorder that affects one in five people in the United States
Recurrent depressive disorder manifests as feelings of sadness or hopelessness, anger or frustration, and is accompanied by loss of interest in everyday matters, trouble sleeping, anxiety, and slowing of thought. In some cases, it may be associated with suicidal thoughts as well as unexplained physical problems, such as back pain or headaches. According to the researchers, recurrent depressive disorder is the most common mental illness in the United States, affecting 20.6% of the population over their lifetime.
In order to understand the springs of this disease, the researchers recruited 68 people with recurrent depressive disorders, who were on the way to remission without using antidepressants. This group was compared to 59 mentally “normal” patients, in order to serve as a control group. After a blood sample was taken from patients in remission, the researchers followed them for two and a half years.
According to the results, a metabolic signature found when patients were healthy could predict which of them were most likely to relapse up to two and a half years into the future, with more than 90% accuracy. Blood analysis showed that the most predictive markers were found in lipids and in purines, a nitrogenous molecule found in DNA. One of the roles of purines is to ensure cell communication in stressful situations, which is called purinergic signaling.
Disturbances in metabolites
In people with recurrent depressive disorders, changes in metabolites lead to fundamental alterations in important cellular activities. “Results revealed an underlying biochemical signature in recurrent depressive disorder that distinguishes diagnosed patients from healthy controls.says Robert Naviaux, professor of medicine, pediatrics and pathology at the University of San Diego School of Medicine. These differences are not visible by ordinary clinical assessment, but suggest that the use of metabolomics — the biological study of metabolites — could be a new tool to predict which patients are most vulnerable to a recurrence of depressive symptoms..”
In their conclusions, the researchers indicate that their initial findings need to be validated in a larger study involving at least 198 women and 198 men (99 cases and 99 controls each).
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