Development of a Novel Retina-Based Diagnostic Score for Early Detection of Major Depressive Disorder: An Interdisciplinary View.

Background: Clinically effective markers for the diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD) are lacking. Alterations in retinal features are closely related to the pathophysiological progression of MDD. However, the reliable retina-related diagnostic model for MDD remains to be developed. Thus, our study aimed to quantitatively evaluate retinal vascular and structural changes in MDD patients and to develop a reliable diagnostic model of MDD based on retinal parameters.

Methods: Seventy-eight patients with MDD and 47 healthy controls (HCs) underwent retinal vessel density and structure examination using optical coherence tomography angiography and visual field examination using perimetry. Independent-sample t test was used to assess the differences in retinal parameters between the groups. Meanwhile, we constructed the corresponding retina-based diagnostic model by LASSO logistic regression. Finally, the diagnostic ability of the model was evaluated by area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic curves and calibration plot of nomogram.

Results: MDD patients showed lower retinal vessel density (including radial peripapillary capillary vessel density, superficial and deep capillary plexus vessel density), thinner subfoveal choroidal thickness, and poorer visual fields compared to HCs (all p < 0.05). Furthermore, a retina-based diagnostic model was constructed and shows a strong diagnostic capability for MDD (AUC = 0.9015, p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Patients with MDD showed distinct retinal features compared to HCs. The retina-based diagnostic model is expected to be a necessary complement to the diagnosis of MDD.