Measuring Heart Rate Changes can Detect Depression

Measuring changes in 24-hour heart rate can certainly indicate whether or not someone is depressed, reports a new study. The findings of the study are presented at the ECNP virtual congress. This could give clinicians an objective "early warning" of potential depression, and a rapid indication whether the treatment is working or not, which could open the way for more rapid and responsive treatment. The pilot study results are presented by the lead author, Dr. Carmen Schiweck, from Goethe University, Frankfurt. He states that by just measuring the heart rate for 24 hours, depression risk is assessed with 90% accuracy.

It has been long known that heart rate is associated with depression, but until now, there is no clear information on how one is related to the other. This is because while heart rates can fluctuate swiftly, depression both comes and goes over a longer period, with most therapy taking months to take effect. This makes it hard to see whether or not changes in one's depressive state might be linked to heart rate.

Two innovative components in this study were using the new antidepressant ketamine, which can lift depression more or less instantly, and the continuous recording of heart rate for several days and nights.

Ketamine has a history as both a party drug and an anesthetic. However, in December last year, it was permitted to treat major depression in Europe after being introduced in America a few months earlier. Ketamine is fast-acting, with results often being seen in minutes, in contrast to traditional antidepressants, which could take weeks to show an effect.

The research team worked with a small sample of 16 patients with Major Depressive Disorder, none of who had responded to conventional treatment, and 16 healthy controls. The heart rates of the volunteers were measured for four days and three nights, and then the participants with depression were given ketamine treatment or a placebo.

The study found that those with depression had both a higher baseline heart rate and a lower heart rate variation, as expected. On average, the depressed patients had a heart rate, which was approximately 10-15 bpm higher than in controls. After treatment, the heart rates were measured again and found that the heart rate fluctuation of the previously depressed patients had improved to those found in the controls.

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The most remarkable finding was that the scientists were able to utilize the 24-hour heart rate as a depression biomarker. The study data were fed to an Artificial Intelligence program, which was able to analyze approximately all controls and patients correctly as being depressed or healthy.

Source-Medindia