A blood test can predict a person's risk for psychosis, an abnormal condition of the mind, according to a study by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Psychosis is often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality." It includes hallucinations or delusions and can sometimes lead to schizophrenia that affects almost 1.2 percent of Americans. It generally develops in late adolescence and early adulthood.
In 2012, 18.6 percent of adult Americans were diagnosed with mental disorders.
Researchers of the current study found that a blood test of psychiatric patients identifies those at risk of severe psychosis later. "The blood test included a selection of 15 measures of immune and hormonal system imbalances as well as evidence of oxidative stress," corresponding author of the study Diana Perkins, professor of psychiatry at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said in a press release.
"These results provide evidence regarding the fundamental nature of schizophrenia, and point towards novel pathways that could be targets for preventative interventions," Perkins added.
Clark Jeffries from Renaissance Computing Institute, co-author of the study explained that modern, computer-based methods can identify apparently clear patterns from nonsensical data.
According to him, scientific researches on various complex disorders like schizophrenia can be confusing due to many hidden dependencies. "Thus, stringent testing is necessary to build a useful classifier. We did that," Jeffries said.
Researchers said that the multiplex blood examination, if independently replicated and if integrated with studies of other classes of biomarkers, can possibly be of high value in the clinical setting.
The findings were published in the journal Schizophrenia Bulletin.
