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The serum zinc concentration as a potential biological marker in patients with major depressive disorder
In this 2017 clinical study, 69 patients with current depressive episode, 45 patients in remission, and 50 healthy control participants were assessed (using electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry [ET AAS]) to compare their levels of zinc and to discuss the potential in monitoring zinc concentrations as a biomarker of depression. The severity of depression was assessed by using the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HDRS) and the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). It was discovered that patients suffering from depression had significantly lower levels of zinc compared with the controls, while there was no significant difference between those in remission and those in the control group. However, a variation in zinc readings was found within the remission group between individuals who had experienced drug resistance in their previous episode and those who had not. Within the remission group, there was also an association between their zinc levels and the average number of depressive episodes the person had gone through in the last year. Finally, serum zinc levels did not show dependence on age, presence of psychotic symptoms or melancholic syndrome, or depression-related factors such as severity, atypical features, age of onset or duration of disease, number of episodes in the lifetime, or the duration of the episode/remission. These findings support the previously reported link between zinc deficiency and depressive episodes, and indicate that there is potential in the use of blood zinc concentration as a biological biomarker of MDD. [NPID: depression, psychiatric disorders, zinc, major depressive disorder, MDD]
Year: 2017
