Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine (USA) developed an exam that allows diagnosing anxiety. The test, done through blood collection, examines biomarkers capable of identifying someone’s risk of developing anxiety, the severity of the current condition and what are the best therapeutic approaches for treatment.
The study was published on Tuesday (7), in the scientific journal Molecular Psychiatry.
“Many people suffer from anxiety, which can be disabling and interfere with daily life,” said professor of psychiatry Alexander Niculescu, author of the study, in a statement.
He claims that the current approach is clinical analysis, which directs the drug prescription. However, some drugs can be addictive and cause other problems.
“We wanted to see if our approach to identifying blood biomarkers could help us pair people with existing drugs that would work better and perhaps be a non-addictive choice.”
Previously, Niculescu was responsible for developing blood tests for the detection of pain, as well as depression, bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, the latter with methods similar to those used to identify anxiety.
The study was carried out in three stages, each independently: discovery, validation and testing.
Participants had blood samples collected at intervals of between three and six months or whenever a new psychiatric hospitalization occurred.
By examining RNA biomarkers in the blood, the researchers were able to identify the patients’ current state of anxiety and treat them with medications and nutraceuticals (foods and supplements that provide health benefits), to show how the various options could be effective, with based on your profile.
“In addition to medication, there are other methods to treat anxiety, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy or lifestyle changes. But having something objective like this test, where we can know what someone’s current status is, as well as their future risk and what treatment options match their profile, is very powerful in helping people,” says the researcher.
He says that, with the possibility of changes in individual biomarkers, the test would allow assessing a person’s risk of developing higher levels of anxiety in the future, as well as other factors that can affect their anxiety, such as hormonal changes.
Niculescu claims that his discovery could help to avoid the consequences of anxiety, which often causes panic attacks, which can be confused with heart attacks, and direct patients to a more appropriate treatment for each profile.
The author believes that the new test can be combined with others, also developed by him, to allow a more comprehensive view of the patient’s mental health status and risks, in addition to having the possibility of using it to develop new treatments for anxiety more targeted to individual biomarkers.
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