14 DAY TRIAL // The conclusions of a new study appear to suggest that depression has side-effects extending beyond impaired mental health. Researchers recently determined that being depressed can also affect cell health, and especially the health of the human immune system.
This makes people more predisposed to developing all sorts of chronic diseases that they may otherwise avoid, say experts with the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF).
Immune system cells are apparently more likely to age prematurely as a result of depression, the team adds. This situation can be avoided if individuals simply seek treatment for their condition, and do not simply want to let it slip past unnoticed.
The new study is not meant to imply that all individuals suffering from depression will go on to experience these side-effects. Rather, the work shows that this is a distinct possibility that healthcare providers need to take into account when establishing diagnostics.
“There’s a lot more to depression than feeling blue,” explains UCSF psychiatry professor Owen Wolkowitz, MD, who was also the lead author of the new investigation.
“As if feeling depressed is not bad enough, we are finding that long-term depression may be associated with damage to cells in the body, and this may predispose patients to certain physical diseases,” the expert goes on to add.
Details of the new work were published in the latest issue of the peer-reviewed scientific journal PLoS ONE, which is edited by the Public Library of Science, PsychCentral reports.
Data available thus far suggest that depression can shorten the protective caps on chromosomes, called telomeres. When these structures drop below a certain length, the cell dies, or is no longer capable of replicating faithfully and mutation-free.
Telomeres in immune cells are apparently the most severely affected by the mental disorder, the UCSF crew explains. This leads to a greater chance for people to develop conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, stroke, dementia and others.
“While this finding itself might seem depressing, there is yet good news: Many lifestyle factors like exercise and aspects of diet have been linked to longer telomeres,” explains expert Elissa Epel, PhD.
“So while our personal history matters, it is possible that what we do today may matter even more, in terms of protecting our telomeres,” She adds. Epel is a coauthor of the new study, and also an associate professor in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry.