Blood Test for Clinical Depression Administered in Minutes

A blood test for depression has been simplified and it could contribute to early detection of the condition if performed during regular medical checkups.

According to Human Metabolome Technologies (Tsuruoka, Japan), clinical depression can be detected by measuring the concentration of phosphoric acid in blood. The company did a comparative study of 66 people--31 patients diagnosed with depression at the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry in Kodaira, (Japan) and 35 healthy test subjects of similar age and gender.

Using the concentration of ethanolamine phosphate as a diagnostic tool, the investigators were able to identify the clinically depressed patients 82% of the time. They deduced that subjects came from the healthy group 95% of the time.

Human Metabolome Technologies is developing a reagent to determine the level of ethanolamine phosphate in minutes. The company expects to complete the reagent in a year. Several other methods of diagnosing depression using blood tests under development involve analysis of about 20 different types of white-blood cell DNA, a time-consuming process.

Details of the new testing regimen were discussed at a conference of the Japanese Society of Biological Psychiatry in Tokyo (Japan) on May 22, 2011.

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Human Metabolome Technologies