The relationship between depression and intestinal microflora imbalance in the elderly / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the incidence of intestinal microflora imbalance and its treatment in elderly patients with depression.Methods:A total of 255 patients with depression aged over 60 years who were admitted to the psychiatry department of our hospital but had not achieved symptom remission from July 2017 to July 2018 were included as the experimental group.During the same period, healthy people taking health examination at our hospital were enrolled as the control group.Fresh fecal samples were collected and changes in mental state was recorded.The intestinal flora was quantitatively identified.The logarithmic ratio of bifidobacterium to enterobacter(B/E ratio)was analyzed and used as a criterion for determining intestinal flora imbalance.Methods:The proportion of patients with moderate to severe depression and concurrent intestinal flora imbalance was higher than that of patients with moderate to severe depression alone (13.72% vs.3.92%, 13.33% vs.2.74%, P<0.01). The numbers of Bifidobacteria and Enterobacter and the B/E ratio in fresh stool specimens were lower in the experimental group than in the control group[(7.34±0.67)log10CFU/gwet stool vs.(11.33±0.23)log10CFU/g wet stool, (11.38±1.92)log10CFU/gwet vs.(7.93±1.69)log10CFU/g wet stool, (0.64±0.52) vs.(1.42±0.25), P<0.01]. The numbers of Enterococci were higher in the experimental group than in the control group( P<0.01). There were significant differences in Self-Rating Depression Scale(SDS)and Self-Rating Anxiety Scale(SAS)scores in elderly patients with depression and concurrent intestinal microflora imbalance before and after specific treatment(84.36±7.93 vs.59.30±2.94, 83.81±4.92 vs.58.53±10.39, P<0.001)and depression symptoms were significantly improved in patients with intestinal microflora imbalance. Conclusions:Elderly patients with depression are clearly prone to intestinal flora imbalance, which is characterized by decreased beneficial bacteria, increased aerobic bacteria and weak intestinal colonization resistance.