Blood test could help identify depression

Wednesday, 22 February 2012 12:12

News & Events - Engineering News

Like many other psychological conditions, depression is poorly understood both by the general populace and, to an extent, the medical community. Much of treatment for depression depends on the approach favored by a given professional, with options ranging to therapy exclusively to primarily relying on medication.

The diagnosis of depression is similarly uncertain. The condition is included in key psychiatric tools like the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, but a variety of other measures are also available. This fact alone can cause a great deal of consternation among patients suffering from serious depression, given that some refuse to accept their condition and others find friends or family unwilling to believe the diagnosis.

George Papakostas told The Harvard Crimson that many researchers over the past 50 years have put a great deal of effort into identifying physical indicators of depression, to better identify the condition as physiological in nature.

"There were signs, but not strong enough for a test," Papakostas, a Harvard Medical School professor of psychiatry and researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital, told the news source.

But the group of researchers led by Papakostas took a step back and questioned whether there might be an answer that could be pieced together from the variety of different biomarkers investigated in prior research. After years of research, the group was able to put together a test of nine different factors that combine to create a still imperfect, but comparatively accurate indicator of depression.

The Atlantic reports that the group put together two preliminary trials involving more than 30 patients diagnosed with severe depression and more than 40 ostensibly healthy subjects. In each of the two trials, the blood test was able to correctly identify patients as depressed for all but three people. Combined with a roughly 80 percent accuracy rate for healthy subjects, according to HealthDay News, the blood test offers a useful tool for supporting doctors' diagnoses.

"Testing negative is not a reason for insurance companies to not cover the expenses of treatment or reason to absolutely reject depression as a diagnosis," Papakostas explained. "The test is supposed to complement clinical care."

HealthDay notes that there is currently no clear sense of the cost of the test, which could be a major determining factor in its adoption, but the group was encouraged enough to move on to larger-scale trials. At the very least, the researchers hoped the results would provide firmer evidence of the biological basis of depression.