💊 Selecting the Best Antidepressant Based on Your DNA

According to the WHO, approximately 332 million people worldwide suffer from depression and about 360 million from anxiety disorders. In half of the cases, the prescribed medications do not help and have to be changed multiple times, delaying recovery.

Researchers from Sweden, Denmark, and Germany have developed a method that will help quickly select the most effective antidepressants for a specific patient based on their DNA.

The scientists tested the hypothesis on a computer model. They analyzed the genomes of more than 2,500 people from the Swedish Twin Registry who had been prescribed medications for depression and anxiety. By comparing the drugs patients received and how their therapy was changed with polygenic factors that affect the risk of developing the disorder, they built a model that predicts an individual's response to a particular treatment.

"Hopefully, in the future, we'll have a cheap and effective test that enables us to alleviate people's suffering much faster," says the method co-author Professor Fredrik Åhs.

The researchers plan to begin clinical trials of the method soon. They are also developing genetic tests to find individual treatments for other psychiatric illnesses, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

@hiaimediaen