Background: Refugees arriving from conflict zones often continue to experience trauma and are at increased risk of anxiety and depression. Those seeking asylum form a group at higher risk of suffering adverse mental health outcomes, with higher needs for psychosocial and therapeutic care. This study aimed to determine metabolic changes potentially associated with psychological distress in refugees from Syria, using a saliva-based metabolomics approach via proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy. Methods: Participants were recruited from Lethbridge Family Services and categorized into high and low stress burden groups using questionnaires assessing depression (PHQ-9) and generalized anxiety (GAD-7). Salivary metabolomic profiles from 26 female and 32 male participants were analyzed using supervised and unsupervised multivariate statistical methods to identify metabolic differences linked to composite stress, depression, and anxiety. Results: Salivary metabolic profiles showed the most prominent differences associated with anxiety in female participants and depression in male participants. Multivariate statistical analyses identified 31 metabolites and 13 biological pathways that were significantly altered according to mental health status, with the greatest changes observed in glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, sphingolipid metabolism, and taurine/hypotaurine metabolism. Conclusions: These findings indicate that salivary 1H NMR metabolomic profiling can identify a quantifiable “metabolic fingerprint” related to impaired mental health and psychological distress in a cost-effective, objective, and non-invasive way. This analytical strategy shows potential as a screening tool to support effective decision-making, enabling early identification of individuals at highest risk who require timely emotional and medical support.
Hoover et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
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