Study Suggests Biological Aging Could Mess With Your Mood—Here's How

When you think about the symptoms of depression, you probably think low mood, fatigue, loss of appetite and so on—but what if there was a biological marker to flag depression? According to new research published in The Journals of Gerontology1, there just might be. Here's what they found.

Studying the relationship between biological aging & mood

For this study, researchers wanted to look for a biomarker for depression in the blood. Given that depression is more common amongst those with autoimmune conditions, they used a sample of women with and without HIV, one of the most common secondary immunodeficiency diseases.

The women (261 with HIV and 179 without) had taken part in the Women's Interagency HIV Study. Their depression levels were measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and blood tests were taken to measure the biological aging of white blood cells.

The blood samples measured both cells and tissues, with a particular focus on monocytes. As the study authors explain, monocytes play a large role in HIV infection and are often also elevated in people with depression.

And sure enough, the results of this study found that monocyte aging was a biomarker for non-somatic depression symptoms like hopelessness, loss of joy, and feelings of failure—both in women with and without HIV.

As study co-author Nicole Beaulieu Perez Ph.D. explains in a news release, “This is particularly interesting because people with HIV often have physical symptoms like fatigue that are attributed to their chronic illness rather than a depression diagnosis. But this flips that on its head because we found that these measures are associated with mood and cognitive symptoms, not somatic symptoms."

Identifying a biomarker for mood disorders

Given that depression is almost always diagnosed based on self-reported symptoms, identifying a potential biomarker for the mood disorder is huge.

“Depression is not a one-size-fits-all disorder—it can look really different from person to person, which is why it's so important to consider varied presentations and not just a clinical label,” Beaulieu Perez says, adding, “Our study reveals unique biological underpinnings of mental health that are often obscured by broad diagnostic categories.”

Of course, the study authors note that more research is needed to better understand the connection between biological aging and mood disorders. Nevertheless, the findings show promise for future diagnostic and treatment pathways.

“I think about the adage, ‘What gets measured gets managed.’ An aspirational goal in mental health would be to combine subjective experience with objective biological testing,” Beaulieu Perez notes.

The takeaway

Depression and other mood disorders take a major toll, making both diagnosing and treating them imperative for those suffering. This study not only points to a new way of understanding the connection between the body and mind, but hopefully, potential new ways to work with that connection.

“Our findings bring us a step closer to this goal of precision mental health care, especially for high-risk populations," Beaulieu Perez says, "by providing a biological framework that could guide future diagnosis and treatment.”