According to a new study, blood test reports can predict if an individual is likely to develop a psychotic disorder in future or not. The study has been published in the current edition of JAMA Psychiatry and is conducted by researchers from RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences.
In the study, researchers analysed blood samples of people who were highly vulnerable to develop clinical psychosis in future. Researchers, after following the condition of these people after several years, found that there were patterns of protein present in those blood samples of people who developed the psychotic disorder later in their lives. The researchers also found that the people who develop a psychotic disorder experience prior changes in their immune system.
The study findings suggest that blood sample reports of people can help in estimating whether a person is likely to develop the psychotic disorder later in life or not. The research findings will be beneficial in giving consultation for preventive treatment of psychotic disorder to people who according to this new research are most likely to develop this disorder.
The most accurate estimation came from analysing a set of 10 proteins in blood samples. Based on this set of data, researchers were able to accurately predict the individuals who were likely to develop the psychotic disorder in 93 per cent of high-risk cases. It also helped in finding accurate results for whether a person will not develop the psychotic disorder in 80 per cent of cases.
Professor David Cotter, the study’s senior and corresponding author and professor of molecular psychiatry at RCSI said, “Ideally, we would like to prevent psychotic disorders, but that requires being able to accurately identify who is most at risk”.
Cotter added, “Our research has shown that, with help from machine learning, analysis of protein levels in blood samples can predict who is at truly at risk and could possibly benefit from preventive treatments. We now need to study these markers in other people at high risk of psychosis to confirm these findings”.
The researchers have now filed a patent application and are in the process of commercialising this research through licensing or industry partnerships.