30 May,2011 09:06 AM IST | | Agencies
Soon, diagnosing clinical depression might involve a needle instead of a couch.
Researchers in Japan have developed a quick blood test that can diagnose depression in minutes by measuring phosphoric acid levels, which depressed people tend to have less of in their blood.
Masterminded by medical research group Human Metabolome Technologies (HMT), the new test could help improve early detection rates in depressed people if performed as part of routine medical checkups, according to the researchers. Japanese newspaper Asahi.com published a report on the new test on May 24.
In a study of 66 people, researchers stated they were able to diagnose depressed patients using the blood test with an 82 percent success rate. The test still needs to pass clinical trials, and HMT says that they are aiming to make the blood test available to doctors within the next two years.
The new test was presented at a conference of the Japanese Society of Biological Psychiatry in Tokyo on May 22.
Asahi also noted that this isn't the first blood test measuring depression, and that several methods are under development. But they involve a "time-consuming" and costly analysis of some 20 different types of white-blood cell DNA.
