Objectives: To identify in patients with major depression different peripheral markers of neuroinflammation in relation to affective symptoms (anxiety, depression, irritability), fatigue and cognitive symptoms; and its relationship with the response to antidepressant treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
Methodology: This is a prospective observational cohort study in patients with major depression naturally subjected to treatment with SSRIs. For this, 30 patients with major depression attended in the Outpatient Psychiatry Consultations will be selected. All of them will be evaluated at baseline and after 3 months of treatment, collecting demographic and clinical variables, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th edition (DSM-5) psychiatric diagnoses, psychopathological scales and immunological and biochemical variables. The correlation between immunological markers and affective and cognitive symptoms at baseline, as well as their variation with treatment, will be analyzed. A group of 20 healthy subjects will be used as a control group.
Subsequently, a bivariate comparative analysis will be carried out, where the statistically significant or marginally significant variables associated with psychopathological variables will be used to build a multivariate binary logistic regression model.
Age between 18 and 65 years
Clinical diagnosis of major depression according to DSM-5 criteria made by a psychiatrist applying the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 (SCID-5).
Eligible for receiving antidepressant treatment for major depression.
Who have received antidepressant, antipsychotic or euthymizer treatments in the 6 weeks prior to inclusion in the study.
Who present concurrent psychotic symptoms.
Who present disorders due to alcohol or drug use, with active consumption during the last 3 months.
Pregnant women.