Salivary Metabolomic Signatures as Predictive Markers of Sex-Specific Mental Health Risk in Syrian Refugees

Refugees arriving from conflict zones often continue to experience trauma and are at increased risk for 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 used a metabolomics approach based on proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy of saliva to identify metabolic biomarkers that indicate mental health risk in refugees from Syria. Participants were recruited from Lethbridge Family Services and categorized into groups of high and low stress burden based on questionnaires that indicated depression (PHQ-9) and generalized anxiety (GAD-7). Metabolomic salivary profiles from 27 female and 32 male participants were analyzed by supervised and unsupervised multivariate statistical analyses to determine metabolic differences related to composite stress, depressions, and anxiety. The salivary metabolic profiles revealed the most pronounced differences in relation to anxiety in females and depression in males. Multivariate statistical analyses identified 31 metabolites and 13 biological pathways significantly altered as a function of mental health status, with the largest changes in glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, sphingolipid metabolism and taurine/hypotaurine metabolism. These results suggest that salivary 1H NMR metabolomic profiles can detect a quantifiable “metabolic fingerprint” of mental health and psychological distress in a cost-effective, objective, and non-invasive manner. This research approach holds promise as a screening tool for effective decision making to identify individuals most at risk and in need of timely emotional and medical support.