%0 Journal Article
%T A Low-Cost Point-of-Care Testing System for Psychomotor Symptoms of Depression Affecting Standing Balance: A Preliminary Study in India
%A Arindam Dutta
%A Robins Kumar
%A Suruchi Malhotra
%A Sanjay Chugh
%A Alakananda Banerjee
%A Anirban Dutta
%J Depression Research and Treatment
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/640861
%X The World Health Organization estimated that major depression is the fourth most significant cause of disability worldwide for people aged 65 and older, where depressed older adults reported decreased independence, poor health, poor quality of life, functional decline, disability, and increased chronic medical problems. Therefore, the objectives of this study were (1) to develop a low-cost point-of-care testing system for psychomotor symptoms of depression and (2) to evaluate the system in community dwelling elderly in India. The preliminary results from the cross-sectional study showed a significant negative linear correlation between balance and depression. Here, monitoring quantitative electroencephalography along with the center of pressure for cued response time during functional reach tasks may provide insights into the psychomotor symptoms of depression where average slope of the Theta-Alpha power ratio versus average slope of baseline-normalized response time may be a candidate biomarker, which remains to be evaluated in our future clinical studies. Once validated, the biomarker can be used for monitoring the outcome of a comprehensive therapy program in conjunction with pharmacological interventions. Furthermore, the frequency of falls can be monitored with a mobile phone-based application where the propensity of falls during the periods of psychomotor symptoms of depression can be investigated further. 1. Introduction The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that major depression is the fourth significant cause of disability for people aged 65 and above [1], where depression is a major contributor to the healthcare costs associated with the elderly population. Depression is a major health issue for elders, yet late-life depression often goes undiagnosed [2]. One in every four among India¡¯s elderly (age > 60 years) population is depressed, and around one in 10 experiences a fall that results in fracture [3]. In fact, the elderly population is predicted to increase to 12% of the total population by 2025 [3]. Depressed elderly report decreased independence, poor health, poor quality of life, functional decline, disability, and increased chronic medical problems [1]. Moreover, psychomotor symptoms of depression may contribute to falls among elderly and an associated fear of falling [4]. Here, course of depression, diurnal variation, medication status, gender, and age are associated with psychomotor agitation and retardation [5]. The psychomotor symptoms in depression have unique significance where they have high discriminative validity, may
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/drt/2013/640861/