An international team of researchers led by experts from the University of Granada (UGR) has proven for the first time that depression is not just a mental illness. Depression causes significant changes in the process of oxidative stress and therefore must be considered as a systemic disease affecting the entire body. The research results were published in the renowned scientific journal "Journal of Clinical Psychiatry".
The findings may explain the strong link between depression and cardiovascular disease and cancer and the fact that many people with depression die prematurely. Also, the results can help define new therapeutic targets for the prevention and treatment of depression.
The work was carried out under the direction of Sarah Fernandez, candidate med. in UGR and psychiatrist in the Department of Child and Adolescent Mental Health at Jaen Medical Center.
The study brings together the results of the previous 29 trials, which involved a total of 3,961 people. Scientists were interested in the physiological processes occurring in the body of people with depression. They studied the imbalance between an increase in oxidative stress parameters (especially malondialdehyde (MDA), a biomarker for assessing oxidative destruction of the cell membrane) and a simultaneous decrease in antioxidant levels (such as uric acid, zinc, and the enzyme superoxide dismutase).
Researchers have shown that as a result of standard therapy for depression, patients' MDA decreased to normal levels, and zinc and uric acid levels also increased to normal (as opposed to the enzyme superoxide dimutase).