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Researchers continue to search for biomarkers that might improve recognition, understanding, and treatment of major depression. These researchers examined lifetime stressful events, sexual abuse in childhood, telomere length, and amount of mitochondrial DNA in 5864 women with recurrent depression and 5783 women without depression histories who were enrolled in the CONVERGE study, which was conducted in China.
Lifetime stress, childhood sexual abuse, and a history of recurrent depression were each related to both shortened telomeres and increased mitochondrial DNA. When participants were stratified by number of lifetime adversities, depressed women continued to show shorter telomeres and more mitochondrial DNA than nondepressed participants, …