British University Unveils Depression Test
A new depression test has been unveiled by University College London (UCL) which promises to raise the standard of health advice given to sufferers of psychological illness.
The educational institution explains that the test has been devised to predict more accurately the likelihood that any given individual will develop depression at some point in their life.
Professor Michael King of the department of mental health sciences comments that UCL hopes to ensure medical professionals can tailor their health advice to take such risk factors into account.
In the creation of the algorithm, researchers took their lead from similar frameworks which exist for forecasting the risk posed by heart disease to individuals based on different characteristics.
After testing the new tool over a 12-month period, it was found to function comparably for depression as its heart disease counterparts within the European medical community.
Health articles published in the Journal of the American Medical Association note that the two conditions are not entirely independent of one another.
Rather, researchers from the VA Medical Center, San Francisco, found that depressed patients often do not adhere to guidance on diet, exercise and medication.
As such, they are seen to experience a greater number of cardiovascular events than would typically be the case.
