Researchers believe they have found a way to calculate a person's risk of depression with a saliva test, a first if successful.
According to CBS News, the researchers from the University of Cambridge measured cortisol, dubbed the "stress hormone," in a person's saliva. They also found the test was most accurate in detecting future risk of depression in teenage boys.
Those boys with high levels of cortisol and mild depression were 14 times more likely to develop clinical depression later in life. Funded by the Wellcome Trust, the study was published online in the journal Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences on Monday.
"This new biomarker suggests that we may be able to offer a more personalized approach to tackling boys at risk for depression," study lead author Dr. Matthew Owens, a researcher in the department of psychiatry at Cambridge, said in a press release. "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 amongst teenage boys and young men."
According to BBC News, the test was not effective in young girls. The study was conducted among teenagers of both genders because 75 percent of mental disorders first develop before the age of 24. Still, there has not been an accurate way to measure risk factors.
"Depression is a terrible illness that will affect as many as 10 million people in the UK at some point in their lives," study co-author Ian Goodyer said in the release. "Through our research, we now have a very real way of identifying those teenage boys most likely to develop clinical depression."
He said an accurate test like the one they are trying to develop would help experts more proactive approach to treating the condition, rather than a reactive one.
Said Goodyer, "This will help us strategically target preventions and interventions at these individuals and hopefully help reduce their risk of serious episodes of depression and their consequences in adult life."
