Brain-gut signals can predict antidepressant response within 7-10 days: Study

New Delhi, Aug 31 (AHN) A combination of brain and gastric electrical signals along with clinical symptoms can help predict antidepressant treatment outcomes within 7–10 days of starting treatment, a study showed on Monday.

As per a joint study by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Memorial (GSVM) Medical College, the findings could enable earlier assessment of treatment response, compared with the conventional 4–6-week period typically needed to assess treatment response, the statement from IIT Kanpur said.

The ability to identify likely treatment responses quickly could help address a significant challenge in depression care.

Depression affects an estimated 5 per cent of adults worldwide and around 4.5 per cent of India’s population. Over half of patients may not respond adequately to their first antidepressant, often requiring weeks of trial and error before an effective treatment is identified.

“Our study showed that objective non-invasive brain and gut electrophysiological signals collected in about the first week of treatment already contain valuable information about treatment response to precisely guide the intervention," said Dr. Pragathi Priyadharsini Balasubramani, Assistant Professor, Department of Cognitive Science, IIT Kanpur, and corresponding author of the study.

"We found that different symptom profiles were associated with distinct patterns of brain and gut physiology linked to treatment outcomes," said Amal Jude Ashwin Francis, PhD Scholar, Department of Cognitive Science, IIT Kanpur, and the first author of the study.

Francis said that recognising these biological subtypes helps explain why patients respond differently to the same medication and facilitates personalised treatment strategies.

The study examined electrical activity in the brain and stomach using electroencephalography (EEG) and electrogastrography (EGG), respectively, together with clinical symptom data.

The study included 206 participants, including 144 treatment-naive patients with depression.

Researchers recorded EEG and EGG signals at the start of treatment and again approximately one week later, and examined whether these early biological signals, together with clinical information, could predict treatment outcomes assessed 4–6 weeks after antidepressant therapy began.

"The predictive model identified patients unlikely to respond to treatment with 84 per cent sensitivity and 78 per cent specificity during model evaluation," the statement said.

The model achieved 77.3 per cent overall accuracy, with 80 per cent specificity and 71.4 per cent sensitivity for identifying nonresponders, when tested on an independent patient cohort.

—AHN

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