A Smartphone- And Wearable- Based Biomarker For The Estimation Of Unipolar Depression Severity

By Zhuparris A, Maleki G, van Londen L, Koopmans I, Aalten V, Yocarini IE, Exadaktylos V, van Hemert A, Cohen A, Gal P, Doll RJ, Groeneveld GJ, and Jacobs G, Kraaij W

The study investigates the potential of using smartphones and wearables to create objective biomarkers for mood disorders, specifically focusing on unipolar depression. It monitored 30 depressed individuals and 29 healthy controls over three weeks, aiming to align remotely gathered data with traditional depression assessments from clinical trials.

Participants used the CHDR MORE™ smartphone app to track daily activities and submitted self-reported evaluations like DASS-21 and PANAS. Weekly in-clinic evaluations were performed using the SIGHD-IDSC. While these digital measures cannot substitute traditional assessments, they provide valuable additional insights into depression severity and the effects of drugs outside clinical environments.