Department of Psychosomatics, School of Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, No. 32, West second Section, 1st Ring Road, 610041, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
Key Laboratory of Psychosomatic Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Chengdu, China.
BMC Psychiatry. 2024 Apr 17;24(1):290. doi: 10.1186/s12888-024-05728-w.
The diagnosis of adolescent Depressive Disorder (DD) lacks specific biomarkers, posing significant challenges. This study investigates the potential of Niacin Skin Flush Response (NSFR) as a biomarker for identifying and assessing the severity of adolescent Depressive Disorder, as well as distinguishing it from Behavioral and Emotional Disorders typically emerging in childhood and adolescence(BED).
In a case-control study involving 196 adolescents, including 128 Depressive Disorder, 32 Behavioral and Emotional Disorders, and 36 healthy controls (HCs), NSFR was assessed. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and anxious symptoms with the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7). Pearson correlation analysis determined the relationships between NSFR and the severity of depression in DD patients. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) was used to identify DD from BED integrating NSFR data with clinical symptom measures.
The adolescent Depressive Disorder group exhibited a higher rate of severe blunted NSFR (21.4%) compared to BED (12.5%) and HC ( 8.3%). Adolescent Depressive Disorder with psychotic symptoms showed a significant increase in blunted NSFR (p = 0.016). NSFR had negative correlations with depressive (r = -0.240, p = 0.006) and anxious (r = -0.2, p = 0.023) symptoms in adolescent Depressive Disorder. Integrating NSFR with three clinical scales improved the differentiation between adolescent Depressive Disorder and BED (AUC increased from 0.694 to 0.712).
The NSFR demonstrates potential as an objective biomarker for adolescent Depressive Disorder, aiding in screening, assessing severity, and enhancing insights into its pathophysiology and diagnostic precision.
青少年抑郁症（DD）的诊断缺乏特异性生物标志物，这带来了巨大的挑战。本研究旨在探讨烟酸皮肤潮红反应（NSFR）作为一种生物标志物，用于识别和评估青少年抑郁症的严重程度，以及将其与儿童和青少年中常见的行为和情绪障碍（BED）区分开来。
在一项包括 196 名青少年的病例对照研究中，包括 128 名抑郁症患者、32 名行为和情绪障碍患者和 36 名健康对照组（HCs），评估了 NSFR。使用患者健康问卷-9（PHQ-9）评估抑郁症状，使用广泛性焦虑症 7 项量表（GAD-7）评估焦虑症状。Pearson 相关分析确定了 NSFR 与 DD 患者抑郁严重程度之间的关系。使用受试者工作特征（ROC）分析，整合 NSFR 数据和临床症状测量结果，将 DD 与 BED 区分开来。
与 BED（12.5%）和 HC（8.3%）相比，青少年抑郁症组中严重迟钝 NSFR 的发生率更高（21.4%）。有精神病症状的青少年抑郁症患者迟钝 NSFR 显著增加（p=0.016）。NSFR 与青少年抑郁症患者的抑郁（r=-0.240，p=0.006）和焦虑（r=-0.2，p=0.023）症状呈负相关。将 NSFR 与三个临床量表整合可以提高青少年抑郁症与 BED 之间的区分度（AUC 从 0.694 增加到 0.712）。
NSFR 可能成为青少年抑郁症的客观生物标志物，有助于筛查、评估严重程度，并深入了解其病理生理学和诊断准确性。
