Assuntos
Humanos , Pneumonia Viral/prevenção & controle , Pneumonia Viral/epidemiologia , Telemedicina , Infecções por Coronavirus/prevenção & controle , Infecções por Coronavirus/epidemiologia , Administração de Caso/organização & administração , Pandemias/prevenção & controle , Transtornos Mentais/psicologia , Saúde Mental , Betacoronavirus , SARS-CoV-2 , COVID-19 , Transtornos Mentais/terapia , Serviços de Saúde Mental/organização & administraçãoAssuntos
Administração de Caso/organização & administração , Infecções por Coronavirus , Transtornos Mentais/psicologia , Pandemias , Pneumonia Viral , Telemedicina , Betacoronavirus , COVID-19 , Infecções por Coronavirus/epidemiologia , Infecções por Coronavirus/prevenção & controle , Humanos , Transtornos Mentais/terapia , Saúde Mental , Serviços de Saúde Mental/organização & administração , Pandemias/prevenção & controle , Pneumonia Viral/epidemiologia , Pneumonia Viral/prevenção & controle , SARS-CoV-2RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Numerous studies have reported reduced peripheral brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in major depression (MD). However, most of these studies used multidimensional depression rating scales, and failed to identify a relationship between BDNF levels and depression severity. Unidimensional scales are a more valid measure of syndrome severity. In these scales, items are ordered in increasing severity, so that as scores increase, syndrome severity increases; thus, each item adds unique information, and items can be totaled to a meaningful sum. The current study used the HAM-D6, a unidimensional measure of depression, to examine if it could identify a correlation between serum BDNF and depression severity. METHODS: Serum BDNF levels and symptom severity were assessed in 163 depressed patients, including those with both unipolar (84.0%) and bipolar (16.0%) depression. The evaluation of depression severity included the total HAM-D17 and 3 subscales, including the HAM-D6. RESULTS: On average, patients presented moderate to severe depression (HAM-D17=21.2±5.5). Overall BDNF levels were 60.4±22.6ng/mL. The correlation between serum BDNF and depression severity was modest and not different when assessed by the HAM-D6 subscale or the HAM-D17 as a whole (z=0.951; p=0.341), despite being statistically significant for the HAM-D6 (r=-0.185; p=0.019; 95% CI: -0.335 to -0.033), but not for the entire HAM-D17 (r=-0.127; p=0.108; 95% CI: -0.272 to 0.027). CONCLUSION: We could not identify a strong relationship between serum BDNF levels and depression severity using the HAM-D6. This is in concordance with results of previous studies that reported no correlation between these variables, and indicates that the properties of the clinical measures used cannot explain the results these studies.