Blood Test Looks Promising in Diagnosing Depression, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Study

A preliminary study finds certain biological markers in the blood of teens with depression that are absent in healthy counterparts. It could lead to the first diagnostic testing for depression. Even among psychiatric disorders, depression is a difficult disease to diagnose. Its causes remain a mystery, its symptoms can't be defined with precision, and treatments are spotty at best. But that may soon change. Scientists are looking for ways to identify patients with depression as reliably as they diagnose cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. A new study takes a significant, though preliminary, step in that direction by demonstrating that a simple blood test can distinguish between people who are depressed and those who are not.

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