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Abstract
Everyday language relates depressed mood to visual phenomena. Previous studies point
to a reduced sensitivity of subjective contrast perception in depressed patients.
One way to assess visual contrast perception in an objective way at the level of the
retina is to measure the pattern electroretinogram (PERG). To find an objective correlate
of reduced contrast perception, we measured the PERG in healthy control subjects and
unmedicated and medicated patients with depression.
Forty patients with a diagnosis of major depression (20 with and 20 without medication)
and 40 matched healthy subjects were studied. Visual PERGs were recorded from both
eyes.
Unmedicated and medicated depressed patients displayed dramatically lower retinal
contrast gain. We found a strong and significant correlation between contrast gain
and severity of depression. This marker distinguishes most patients on a single-case
basis from control subjects. A receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed
a specificity of 92.5% and a sensitivity of 77.5% for classifying the participants
correctly.
Because PERG recording does not depend on subjective ratings, this marker may be an
objective correlate of depression in human beings. If replicated, PERG may be helpful
in further animal and human research in depression.
Copyright 2010 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights
reserved.