Blood Marker May Help Spot Depression In Epilepsy

Source: Epilepsia

Summary

This study looked at whether a blood marker called neurofilament light chain, or NfL, was linked to depressive symptoms in adults with epilepsy. The researchers included 152 adults treated at a large hospital in Northeast China. They measured NfL levels in blood samples and used a standard depression rating scale to check for depressive symptoms.

About 4 in 10 participants had depressive symptoms. People with higher NfL levels were more likely to have these symptoms, and they also tended to have higher depression scores. The blood test showed fairly good ability to tell apart people with and without depressive symptoms, although it was not perfect.

This matters because depression is common in people with epilepsy and is often missed, so a blood marker might help identify people who need closer attention. It also suggests there may be shared brain-related changes behind epilepsy and depression. But this study only looked at one group of adults at one hospital and measured everything at one point in time, so it cannot show that higher NfL causes depression or prove how useful the test would be in other groups.

Original source