Cure For Depression: New Blood Test From UK Identifies Patients Who Will Respond Well To Antidepressant Drugs

Checking a patient's blood can help doctors treat depressed people. Scientists from the U.K. have developed a new blood test procedure that can determine the best antidepressant drug for patients suffering from depression.

Researchers from King's College London conducted the blood test on 140 people with depression. The blood test seeks for two specific indicators of inflammation: a compound named macrophage migration inhibitory factor, or MIF, and one called interleukin-1beta. The study was published in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology.

Inflammatory Markers

Patients with high levels of MIF and interleukin-1beta have a harder time responding to commonly prescribed SSRI and tricyclic antidepressant drugs, according to BBC. People who possess these inflammatory markers require more aggressive forms of therapy to manage their depression.

Carmine Pariante, the study's lead researcher, said the inflammatory markers are likely exacerbated by stress. High levels of inflammation impede a person's biological processes, therefore preventing the body from responding to antidepressants.

Pariante and his team are trying to determine whether anti-inflammatory drugs respond positively when paired with antidepressants. The latter is considered as a safe form of treatment, but they also have side effects like nausea, insomnia, constipation and sexual problems.

Depression And ADHD Connected With Depression

A new study from Norway found that workaholics have higher chances of developing depression and ADHD, Livescience reported. Thirty-three percent of workaholics involved in the study exhibited symptoms of ADHD, while only 13 percent of non-workaholics displayed similar symptoms.

Almost 9 percent of workaholics examined by the study showed symptoms of depression, as opposed to the 2.6 percent of non-workaholics with depression. Workaholics have higher levels of anxiety as well. Researchers from Malaysia also found a link between depression and urban Malaysian women with vitamin D deficiency, Medical Xpress wrote.

Depression affects a person's ability to feel, think and perform daily activities such as eating, working and sleeping, the National Institute for Mental Health wrote. Some of the symptoms of depression include feelings of hopelessness, irritability, anxiousness, empty moods, fatigue, restlessness, appetite and weight changes, and sleeping problems.

People have high risks of developing depression if their family has a history of the disorder. Other risk factors are trauma or stress, as well as physical problems and medications.

Aside from antidepressants, people can also manage depression through undergoing talking therapies or self-help groups, BBC noted. Doctors also recommend patients to be active physically and socially, and seek therapies like mindfulness training and cognitive-behavioral therapy, or CBT. With CBT, depressed patients are capable of stopping their negative thoughts and behaviors, while mindfulness helps them be grounded with the present.