Topic: Research News

Scientists have developed a blood test that can detect depression before symptoms appear. The test looks at how certain white blood cells age and is especially useful for women with HIV.

Depression is a common condition that affects nearly one in five adults in the United States. Currently, doctors diagnose depression based on what patients report about their symptoms. However, this method has its limitations. Depression does not look the same for everyone, and some people may experience physical symptoms while others struggle with emotional and cognitive effects.

Researchers from NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing have made a breakthrough in developing a simple blood test that can detect depression before symptoms appear. The test tracks how certain white blood cells age and focuses on emotional and cognitive symptoms rather than physical ones.

The study, published in The Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, included 440 women - 261 living with HIV and 179 without HIV. The researchers found that aging in monocytes (a type of white blood cell) was strongly associated with non-somatic symptoms of depression.

This is particularly interesting because people with HIV often have physical symptoms like fatigue that are attributed to their chronic illness rather than a depression diagnosis. But this flips that on its head because we found that these measures are associated with mood and cognitive symptoms, not somatic symptoms,

Implications

Scientists have developed a blood test that can detect depression before symptoms appear. The test looks at how certain white blood cells age and is especially useful for women with HIV.