Depression is the leading cause of disability. Treatment of depression is based on stepped care, in which patients receive treatment on a trial-and-error basis. Only 30-50% of patients benefit from each treatment step, resulting in prolonged treatment trajectories. The BOOST Depression project will develop biomarkers to enable the selection of the best treatment for each patient such that they get better faster.
We will obtain clinical, neuroimaging (EEG/MRI), and (epi)genetic markers of patients with major depressive disorder before their treatment. We will recruit patients who will start with sertraline, cognitive-behavioral therapy, rTMS, esketamine or ECT. We will create predictive models using machine learning analysis, and validate the predictive models in subsequent clinical trials.
The consortium is funded by the Dutch Research Agenda (NWA-ORC), and consists of universities, medical centers, mental health care organizations, patient and professional organizations, and health care companies.
The predictive models are expected to expedite treatment such that patients get better faster, which will reduce the disease burden for patients and costs for society.
Patients can participate in the regions Amsterdam, Arnhem, Eindhoven and Maastricht.
