Biomarker screening for antenatal depression in women who underwent caesarean section: a matched observational study...

Antenatal depression is a prevalent mental disorder in women who have undergone caesarean section, and it often presages adverse postoperative outcomes. Because of the lack of a laboratory-based diagnostic strategy, antenatal depression is mainly determined by a psychologist's subjective judgment based on a structured clinical interview for established diagnostic criteria. However, the diagnostic accuracy rate for depression by non-psychiatrists is relatively low. Thus, this study aimed to use lipidomics to identify potential biomarkers related to antenatal depression in women who have undergone caesarean section.

The study was designed as a matched prospective observational study. Singleton pregnant women scheduled to receive elective caesarean section, were screened for eligibility. Women diagnosed with major antenatal depression were matched with non-antenatal depression controls in terms of age (±1 year) and BMI (±1 kg/m²), and blood samples of the included matched pairs were collected. Subsequently, lipidomics of the plasma samples were performed using Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis to explore the differentially expressed lipids in women with or without antenatal depression.

In total, 484 pregnant women were screened; 66 subjects were recruited, including 33 subjects with major antenatal depression and 33 matched controls without antenatal depression. Thirty-five differentially expressed lipid metabolites were identified (P < 0.05). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of these lipid metabolites was 0.7 or larger; the area under curve for cholesterol sulfate was 0.823 (95% CI: 0.716-0.930), and that of PC (18:2 (2E, 4E)/0:0) was 0.778 (95%CI: 0.662-0.895). In the conditional logistic stepwise regression analysis, cholesterol sulfate (P = 0.009) and PC (18:2 (2E, 4E)/0:0) (P = 0.035) were also identified as effective predictive risk factors for antenatal depression.

Women who had undergone caesarean section and experienced antenatal depression presented a significantly differentially expressed profile of plasma lipidomics compared to those who did not experience antenatal depression. Cholesterol sulfate and PC (18:2 (2E, 4E)/0:0) may be effective and specific lipidic biomarkers for the prediction of antenatal depression.

China Clinical Trial Registration Center registration number: ChiCTR1800016230 ; date of registration: 21/05/2018.