Shared biological mechanisms?
Commenting on the study in an interview, Roger McIntyre, MD, professor of psychiatry and pharmacology, University of Toronto and head of the Mood Disorders Psychopharmacology Unit, said the results “suggest that a subpopulation of people with depression have what might be referred to as ‘metabolic syndrome type II’ – the depression is a consequence of abnormal metabolic processes.”
Dr. Roger S. McIntyre
The results also suggest “maybe metabolic markers can be used as biomarkers of disease presence vs. absence,” said Dr. McIntyre, who is also the chairman and executive director of the Brain and Cognition Discovery Foundation, Toronto, and was not involved with the study.
Also commenting on the study, Andrea Fagiolini, MD, professor of psychiatry, University of Siena (Italy), said depression, metabolic, and inflammatory diseases “likely share some common biological mechanism, as they share risk factors such as unhealthy diet, unhealthy lifestyles, and frequent exposure to physical and psychological distress.”
It is “possible that treatment of depression improves IR; conversely, it is possible that lifestyle programs or medications that are able to improve IR may improve depressive symptoms,” suggested Dr. Fagiolini, who was not involved with the study. “It remains to be established which symptoms of depression are most involved in this correlation and whether their improvement precedes or follows the improvement in IR,” he noted.
The Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety is funded through the Geestkracht program of the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development and is supported by several participating universities and mental health care organizations. Dr. Watson has disclosed no relevant financial relationships. The other authors’ disclosures are listed on the original paper. Dr. McIntyre reported research grant support from CIHR/GACD/Chinese National Natural Research Foundation and speaker/consultation fees from multiple pharmaceutical companies. Dr. McIntyre is also CEO of AltMed. Dr. Fagiolini has served or is currently serving as consultant or speaker for or is a research grant recipient from multiple pharmaceutical companies.
A version of this article originally appeared on Medscape.com.