A recent study suggests that biological aging may serve as a marker for depression, offering a potential new way to understand and diagnose the mood disorder. The research, published in The Journals of Gerontology, examined the connection between aging at the cellular level and depressive symptoms.
Researchers analyzed data from 440 women, including 261 with HIV and 179 without. The women were part of the Women’s Interagency HIV Study. Depression levels were measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and blood tests assessed the biological aging of white blood cells.
The study focused on monocytes, a type of white blood cell. Monocytes play a key role in HIV infection and are often elevated in people with depression. The results showed that monocyte aging was a biomarker for non-somatic depression symptoms such as hopelessness, loss of joy, and feelings of failure. This finding held true for women both with and without HIV.
Study co-author Nicole Beaulieu Perez, Ph.D., said in a news release that the finding is notable because people with HIV often have physical symptoms like fatigue that are attributed to their chronic illness rather than a depression diagnosis. She stated that the research “flips that on its head” by linking these biological measures to mood and cognitive symptoms rather than physical ones.
Depression is typically diagnosed based on self-reported symptoms. Identifying a biological marker could change that process. Beaulieu Perez noted that depression is not a one-size-fits-all disorder and can look different from person to person. She added that the study reveals “unique biological underpinnings of mental health that are often obscured by broad diagnostic categories.”
The researchers caution that more work is needed to fully understand the link between biological aging and mood disorders. However, the findings offer promise for future diagnosis and treatment. Beaulieu Perez referenced the idea that “what gets measured gets managed,” and said an aspirational goal in mental health would be to combine subjective experience with objective biological testing.
Depression and other mood disorders affect millions of people. New ways to diagnose and treat these conditions are important for those who suffer from them. This study points to a new understanding of the connection between the body and mind, and may lead to new approaches for care. Beaulieu Perez said the findings bring science “a step closer to this goal of precision mental health care, especially for high-risk populations, by providing a biological framework that could guide future diagnosis and treatment.”
