Early Saliva Test helps Trace Depressive Symptoms among Teenage Boys

A simple saliva test can help spot early depression symptoms in teenage boys, says a study.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge identified a biomarker, which can help spot mental disturbances among teenagers that can lead to full blown depression in later life. The levels of stress hormone cortisol in the saliva combined with mild depression are good indicators of this disorder.

 They conducted the study involving two separate groups of teenagers that included both boys and girls and the cortisol levels were tested from their saliva. The first group comprised of 660 participants whose early morning saliva samples were tested during four consecutive school days, after a week and a year later.

The researchers collected the saliva samples from the second group of 1,198 teenagers over a course of three school days and after 12 months. The saliva test was combined with self reported depressive symptoms over the year. It was found that young boys who displayed depressive symptoms had high levels of stress hormones and were 14 times more likely to develop chronic depression compared to those with stable cortisol levels. The cortisol affects girls differently, who are only 4 percent likely to suffer depression.

The researchers divided the participants in to four sub-groups ranging from those with normal levels of morning cortisol and low symptoms of depression (group 1) to those with elevated cortisol levels and high symptoms of depression (group 4). The researchers combined the results from both the study participants and were able to track the possibility of full blown clinical depression related disorders among the teenagers in the next  three years.

The study is published in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences.

Dr Matthew Owens, a study author from the University of Cambridge said in press statement, "This new biomarker suggests that we may be able to offer a more personalized approach to tackling boys at risk for depression. This could be a much needed way of reducing the number of people suffering from depression, and in particular stemming a risk at a time when there has been an increasing rate of suicide among teenage boys and young men."

Depression is a serious mental problem that affects nearly one in six people, say the authors. The study provides evidence of the growing incidence of stress and mental disturbances among young adults and teenagers. The researchers believe that the biomarker for identifying stress levels will assist treating patients in the early stages.