2023-10-11 18:45:33
Bipolar disorder (formerly called manic-depressive illness or manic depression) is a mental condition that causes changes in mood, the energy a person feels, and their ability to concentrate. These changes can make it difficult to perform everyday tasks and also make interactions with other people difficult.
The degree of mood swing can vary from person to person, but in general terms it ranges from feeling euphoric and hyperactive to feeling very depressed and without the strength to do anything. Currently, these mood swings are mostly diagnosed subjectively, through interviews with doctors or by completing questionnaires that will then be reviewed by a psychiatrist.
Now, scientists have created an innovative bracelet or wristband that, in a way that is comfortable for the patient and hidden from the people around them, measures electrical impulses in the skin and other physiological biomarkers that are usually associated with mood changes in the body. Bipolar disorder.
The team includes, among others, Diego Hidalgo-Mazzei, from the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona and the University of Barcelona, as well as Filippo Corponi, from the University of Edinburgh.
Among the physiological biomarkers measured by the bracelet is electrodermal activity. With it, changes in the electrical conductivity of the skin are used to obtain an indication of the level of stress through the reactivity of the nervous system. It is a possible immediate indicator of whether someone is in a crazy euphoric mood, or a devastatingly depressed mood, or a normal one.
A researcher wearing the prototype of the bracelet. (Photo: Diego Hidalgo-Mazzei)
The device has been tested on 38 volunteers with bipolar disorder, and 19 healthy people (control group).
Development of the bracelet is still in an early phase, but the device’s inventors hope that it will be able to detect mood changes in people with bipolar disorder, thus aiding diagnosis and potentially opening a path to faster, more personalized treatments. .
According to a 2019 study, between 1% and 2% of Europeans suffer from bipolar disorder (exact figures are difficult to obtain), meaning that more than 700,000 suffer from this ailment in Europe alone. In the rest of the world, the percentages do not differ much.
The bracelet was presented at the 36th congress of the ECNP (European College Of Neuropsychopharmacology), held in Barcelona. (Source: NCYT from Amazings)
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