Differentiating Medicated Patients Suffering from Major Depressive Disorder from Healthy Controls by Spot Urine Measurement of Monoamines and Steroid Hormones

Chandra S. Wijaya, Jovia J. Z. Lee, Syeda F. Husain, Cyrus S. H. Ho, Roger S. McIntyre, Wilson W. Tam and Roger C. M. Ho
Additional contact information
Chandra S. Wijaya: Singapore Technology Center, Panasonic Industrial Devices Singapore, Singapore 469269, Singapore
Jovia J. Z. Lee: Singapore Technology Center, Panasonic Industrial Devices Singapore, Singapore 469269, Singapore
Syeda F. Husain: Department of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119228, Singapore
Cyrus S. H. Ho: Department of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119228, Singapore
Roger S. McIntyre: Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A8, Canada
Wilson W. Tam: Alice Lee School of Nursing, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117597, Singapore
Roger C. M. Ho: Department of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119228, Singapore

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 5, 1-13

Abstract: Introduction : Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a common psychiatric disorder. Currently, there is no objective, cost-effective and non-invasive method to measure biological markers related to the pathogenesis of MDD. Previous studies primarily focused on urinary metabolite markers which are not proximal to the pathogenesis of MDD. Herein, we compare urinary monoamines, steroid hormones and the derived ratios amongst MDD when compared to healthy controls. Methods : Morning urine samples of medicated patients suffering from MDD ( n = 47) and healthy controls ( n = 41) were collected. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was performed to measure five biomarkers: cortisol, dopamine, noradrenaline, serotonin and sulphate derivative of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEAS). The mean urinary levels and derived ratios of monoamines and steroid hormones were compared between patients and controls to identify potential biomarkers. The receiver operative characteristic curve (ROC) analysis was conducted to evaluate the diagnostic performance of potential biomarkers. Results : Medicated patients with MDD showed significantly higher spot urine ratio of DHEAS/serotonin (1.56 vs. 1.19, p = 0.004) and lower ratio of serotonin/dopamine (599.71 vs. 888.60, p = 0.008) than healthy controls. A spot urine serotonin/dopamine ratio cut-off of >667.38 had a sensitivity of 73.2% and specificity of 51.1%. Conclusions : Our results suggest that spot urine serotonin/dopamine ratio can be used as an objective diagnostic method for adults with MDD.

Keywords: major depressive disorder; monoamine; steroid hormone; spot urine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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