What if you were told that a way to prevent and treat depression could be found in your medicine cabinet? A recent study reported by Medical News Today suggests that aspirin and statins could help to prevent and treat depression symptoms in women. This study, published in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, explores the association between aspirin’s anti-inflammatory properties and a reduction in the risk of depression.
Previous studies and research have indicated that depression is frequently a co-morbid condition for people who are diagnosed with chronic diseases caused by inflammation. Based on this evidence, the authors of this study hypothesized that aspirin or statins could potentially lower depression risk by reducing inflammation.
The authors of this study conducted psychiatric interviews of a sample of 386 women who had been a part of a larger sample from a previous study. The psychiatric interviews took place after a ten year follow up. Among the sample of 386 women, 63 were diagnosed as having Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and 323 had no history of MDD. What they found at the conclusion of the study was that the prevalence of exposure to statins and aspirin was lower among the sample of women having Major Depressive Disorder.
The study results revealed that exposure to statins and aspirin is associated with a reduction in the risk for developing clinical depression in women.
When one reads such a study a lot of questions come to mind such as were there other variables which could better explain the development of depression in some of these women? For the women who were taking aspirin or statins, what was the usual dosage, frequency of intake, or length of time they took the medication? Clearly more research needs to be done before we start popping aspirin as a way to prevent or treat depression. But it does seem to pose a logical direction for research to pursue.
I take particular interest in this study because I do suffer from a chronic disease characterized by inflammation, Multiple Sclerosis. In addition to having MS, I also suffer from depression. This is not uncommon for folk who deal with auto-immune inflammatory diseases such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, and Multiple Sclerosis to also have depression. When Lene Andersen, the community leader for our RA site interviewed me about depression, I predicted that in time, researchers would discover how inflammation may be one of the root causes not just for these chronic illnesses but also for mood disorders. There seems to be an undeniable connection. Then, when I did a bit of my own sleuthing on the Internet, I found many studies which show that my armchair hypothesis may have some scientific backing.
A recent report in Science Daily, cites a new theory proposed by researchers that links depression to chronic brain inflammation. Authors, Athina Markou, PhD, professor of psychiatry and Karen Wager-Smith, a post-doctoral researcher, hypothesize that the underlying mechanism for how the body responds to pain, whether it is from a physical or mental source, may be the same.
