Scientists have developed a blood test that can predict whether people with depression will respond to common anti-depressants, a discovery that could bring in a new era of personalised treatment for people with the debilitating mental illness.
The researchers said doctors should in future be able to direct depressed patients with a certain level of inflammation in their blood towards earlier treatment with a more potent course of anti-depressants — possibly including combining two medications — before they get worse.
"This study moves us a step closer to providing personalised anti-depressant treatment at the earliest signs of depression," said Annamaria Cattaneo, who led the work at King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN).
Depression is one of the most common forms of mental illness, affecting more than 350 million people worldwide.
It is ranked by the World Health Organisation as the leading cause of disability globally.
Treatment usually involves either medication, some form of psychotherapy, or a combination of both. But around half of all people treated for depression fail to get better with first-line antidepressants, and around a third of patients are resistant to all available medications designed to help.