Pupillometry in Chinese Female Patients with Depression: A Pilot Study

Abstract

The pupillary responses to light in patients with depression and normal controls were evaluated among Chinese females. Four parameters related to the pupil were assessed using a video-based pupillometer. The results showed that there were significant differences in the pupil area in the darkness and the pupil area at the peak of constriction between depressed patients and normal controls.

Pupillary Response to Auditory Stimuli in Depressive State

“…It is consistent with a previous report that the pupil area at the peak of constriction is greater in the depressed subjects compared with the normal controls due to decreasing of acetyl cholinergic activity in depression [9]. Other report denies that the difference of acetyl cholinergic activity between depression and normal controls [17].…”

“…In addition to depression, aging causes the loss of cortical noradrenergic neurons and lower level of noradrenaline activity. Existence of lower level of noradrenaline and acetylcholine activity in depressed subjects affects in pupillary light reflex [9].…”

“…Siegle et al reported depressive individuals tended to display sustained pupil dilation in response to negative stimuli [8]. It has been gradually elucidated whether pupil response would detect mood disorder, especially depression or not [9,10]. We had previously reported the dilation of the pupils induced from various emotional auditory stimuli related to the cortical and subcortical mechanisms [11].…”

Automatic Assessment of Depression Based on Visual Cues: A Systematic Review

“…Siegle et al [71] reported faster pupillary responses in non-depressed individuals to positive rather than negative stimuli. In contrast, depressed persons displayed slower pupil dilation responses to positive stimuli in conditions associated with reduced cognitive load (see also [72], [73], [74], [75], [76], [77]). More recently Price et al [78] investigated attentional bias, including pupil bias and diameter, to predict depression symptoms over a two year follow up period in a sample of adolescents displaying high ratings of anxiety.…”

“…Recruitment of participants is perhaps the most challenging step in this line of research. Patients with MDD were recruited from the community, in many cases by clinical psychologists or social workers, and were assessed using DSM-IV [115] criteria [71], [72], [74], [82], [90], [111] and/or HAM-D scores [82], [91], [111], [113]; patients may be medicated, un-medicated or in remission. The Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) was employed in the data collection for the dataset reported in [116] in order to obtain the diagnosis, and Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology-Self Report (QIDS-SR) for defining the severity.…”