In analyses of Dallas Heart Study Data, researchers at the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern (UTSW) have found links between inflammation, menopause, and depressive disorder and published their findings in two articles. One article (https://www.psychiatrist.com/JCP/article/Pages/association-between-glyca-and-depressive-symptoms.aspx), published recently in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, shows a link between an inflammatory molecule (GlycA) in the blood and a person’s likelihood of depressive symptoms. This open-action article is titled “An Association Between the Inflammatory Biomarker GlycA and Depressive Symptom Severity.” The other article (https://www.maturitas.org/article/S0378-5122(20)30384-4/fulltext), published online on September 30, 2021 in the journal Maturitas, indicates which symptoms of menopause are most predictive of depression. This article is titled “Association of Menopause Symptoms with Depressive Symptom Severity in a Diverse Community-Based Sample.” Both studies are based on data from the Dallas Heart Study (DHS) (https://www.utsouthwestern.edu/research/translational-medicine/doing-research/dallas-heart/), which, since 2000, has tracked the health of thousands of participants with the goal of improving the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of heart disease. “The DHS dataset is an extraordinary resource at UT Southwestern,” says Sherwood Brown (photo) (https://profiles.utsouthwestern.edu/profile/10878/sherwood-brown.html?&skip=30&max=10), MD, PhD, senior author of both depression papers and Professor of Psychiatry and Vice Chair for Clinical Research at UTSW. In the first two years of the study, more than 6,000 residents of Dallas County completed a detailed medical survey; 3,500 of them, aged 30 to 65, provided blood samples and underwent imaging studies.Login Or Register To Read Full Story