Development and Clinical Application of a Novel Autonomic Transient Response-Based Screening System for Major Depressive Disorder Using a Fingertip Photoplethysmographic Sensor

Over 350 million people across the world suffer from major depressive disorder (MDD). More than 10% of MDD patients have suicide intent, while it has been reported that more than 40% patients did not consult their doctors for MDD. In order to increase consultation rate of potential MDD patients, we developed a novel MDD screening system which can be used at home without help of health-care professionals. Using a fingertip photoplethysmograph (PPG) sensor as a substitute of electrocardiograph (ECG), the system discriminates MDD patients from healthy subjects using autonomic nerve transient responses induced by a mental task (random number generation) via logistic regression analysis. The nine logistic regression variables are averages of heart rate (HR), high frequency (HF) component of heart rate variability (HRV), and the low frequency (LF)/HF ratio of HRV before, during, and after the mental task. We conducted a clinical test of the proposed system. Participants were 6 MDD patients (4 females and 2 males, aged 23–60 years) from Shizuoka Saiseikai General Hospital psychiatry outpatient unit and 14 healthy volunteers from University of Electro-Communications (6 females and 8 males, aged 21–63 years). The average PPG- and ECG (as a reference)-derived HR, HF and LF/HF were significantly correlated with each other (HR; r = 1.00, p < 0.0001, HF; r = 0.98, p < 0.0001, LF/HF; r = 0.98, p < 0.0001). Leave-one-out cross validation (LOOCV) revealed 83% sensitivity and 93% specificity. The proposed system appears promising for future MDD self-screening at home and are expected to encourage psychiatric visits for potential MDD patients.