Wei Zegao, Yan Chao, Cui Lixian, Zhao Xudong, Liu Liang
Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Shanghai East Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.
School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
Children (Basel). 2023 Jul 10;10(7):1195. doi: 10.3390/children10071195.
Adolescents are a vulnerable population with a high prevalence of depression, yet there is a scarcity of biological markers for diagnosing depression specifically in this age group. In this case-control study, we examined physiological responses and facial expressions in adolescents with depression compared to healthy controls during parental conflict to identify potential biomarkers for adolescent depression. We recruited 33 families with adolescents diagnosed with depression and 25 families with healthy adolescents, matched for gender, age, and education. Baseline physiological measures, including electrocardiography (ECG), electrodermal activity (EDA), and respiration (RESP). During a 30 min parental conflict discussion, recorded on video, we analyzed the adolescents' responses. The major depressive disorder (MDD) group displayed higher baseline heart rate (HR) and lower respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). During the conflict discussion, they showed increased HR and shorter tonic periods of EDA compared to the healthy group. Facial expressions of both groups included neutral, sad, angry, and surprised. The MDD group exhibited fewer happy expressions. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis indicated that HR, interbeat interval (IBI), average NN interval (AVNN), number of NN50 intervals (NN50), and percentage of NN50 intervals (pNN50) had diagnostic potential for adolescent depression, with an area under the curve (AUC) greater than 0.7. Our findings suggest that adolescents with depression experience heightened sympathetic activation (higher HR) and weakened parasympathetic activity (lower RSA and HRV). These biomarkers hold promise for diagnosing adolescent depression.
青少年是抑郁症患病率很高的脆弱人群，但专门用于诊断该年龄组抑郁症的生物标志物却很匮乏。在这项病例对照研究中，我们比较了患有抑郁症的青少年与健康对照组在父母冲突期间的生理反应和面部表情，以确定青少年抑郁症的潜在生物标志物。我们招募了33个有被诊断患有抑郁症青少年的家庭和25个有健康青少年的家庭，这些家庭在性别、年龄和教育程度上相匹配。记录了包括心电图（ECG）、皮肤电活动（EDA）和呼吸（RESP）在内的基线生理指标。在一段30分钟的父母冲突讨论视频中，我们分析了青少年的反应。重度抑郁症（MDD）组表现出更高的基线心率（HR）和更低的呼吸性窦性心律不齐（RSA）。在冲突讨论期间，与健康组相比，他们的心率增加，EDA的紧张期缩短。两组的面部表情包括中性、悲伤、愤怒和惊讶。MDD组表现出的快乐表情较少。受试者工作特征（ROC）曲线分析表明，心率（HR）、心动周期（IBI）、平均NN间期（AVNN）、NN50间期数量（NN50）和NN50间期百分比（pNN50）对青少年抑郁症具有诊断潜力，曲线下面积（AUC）大于0.7。我们的研究结果表明，患有抑郁症的青少年交感神经激活增强（心率更高），副交感神经活动减弱（RSA和HRV更低）。这些生物标志物有望用于诊断青少年抑郁症。
