According to the World Health Organization, depression is the top leading cause of disability worldwide. Currently, there are no blood tests that can help in identifying who is at risk to develop depression. We investigated serum levels of inflammatory and neuro-protective proteins in a longitudinal cohort of women who developed first-onset depression during the transition to menopause. we found that first-onset depression in midlife women may be associated with a systemic cascade of pro-oxidative and pro-inflammatory events.
Impact
Women are at higher risk to develop depression during the transition to menopause. If our study is replicated in an independent sample, the use of blood tests can become a useful tool in the identification of women at risk risk to develop depression during perimenopause.
Student Experience
Dr. Matheus Pasquali was a very successful postdoctoral student in charge of this project. He completed all analyses of blood samples and published the main manuscript. He is now Associate Professor at the Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, Paraiba, Brazil.
Countries
Brazil, United States of America
Impact
Research, Global Partnerships
Institutional Partner(s)
Department of Biochemistry, Universidade Fereral do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (Dr. Jose Claudio Moreira and Dr. Daniel Gelain)
Community Partner(s)
Industry Partner(s)
Key Outcomes
Publications
Sponsorship
Federal Private
Sponsorship Details
This work was supported in part by an unrestricted educational Pfizer Fellowship in Women’s Mental Health. Original funding for the Harvard Study of Moods and Cycles was from NIH Grants R01-MH-50013 and R01-MH-69732 from the National Institute of Mental Health.
