Accuracy of brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels for differentiating between Taiwanese patients with major depressive disorder or schizophrenia and healthy controls
Abstract
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been associated with the psychopathology of both major depressive disorder (MDD) and schizophrenia (SZ). However, studies focusing on the accuracy of BDNF levels to differentiate between these patients and healthy controls (HCs) have been rare. Over a discrete ten-year period, we investigated serum BDNF levels in patients with MDD or SZ and compared them to HCs. We found serum BDNF levels in 224 samples with SZ to be lower than those in 390 HCs samples (p = 0.007), but not lower than those in the 273 samples with MDD. Male MDD patients tended to have lower BDNF levels compared to male HCs (p = 0.083). The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis demonstrated that BDNF levels were moderately accurate in differentiating male MDD patients and female patients with SZ from HCs (AUC = 0.652 and 0.623, respectively). The most adequate cut-off points for BDNF level were 5.11 ng/ml (sensitivity = 81.1%, specificity = 48.5%) and 5.88 ng/ml (sensitivity = 74.1%, specificity = 57.4%), respectively. Our results support that BDNF demonstrated moderate accuracy in distinguishing male patients with MDD and female patients with SZ from HCs. In the future, greater samples would be required to ...Continue Reading
References
Citations
New insights on brain-derived neurotrophic factor epigenetics: from depression to memory extinction.
Methods Mentioned
Related Concepts
Related Feeds
Brain Injury & Trauma
brain injury after impact to the head is due to both immediate mechanical effects and delayed responses of neural tissues.