Hormone used as performance-enhancing drug may help patients with mental disorders

Hormone used as performance-enhancing drug may help patients with mental disorders
Bipolar disorder or depression can be treated with a hormone best known to boost performance.

However, the EPO may not be beneficial for people who smoke or who previously had blood clots or the have high risk of blood clots, the researchers said. ‘EPO may not be ready to be rolled out as a treatment just yet and may not be for everyone,’ Miskowiak noted. Around 350 million people suffer from depression, with a further 60 million suffering from bipolar disorder, but the drugs normally used to treat depression and bipolar disorders don’t have any major effect on cognition, according to recent reports from the World Health Organisation (WHO). Currently there is no available effective treatment to target cognitive problems in these patients, the report stated. ‘The results of this study, albeit preliminary, gives hope to people suffering from mood disorders and associated neurocognitive symptoms,’ said Eduard Vieta, Professor at the University of Barcelona Hospital Clinic, in Spain in a comment. (Read: Keep calm and improve your mental health)

For the study, the team conducted two randomised controlled trials. They assessed cognitive function in 79 patients suffering from depression or bipolar disorder. Out of these, 40 patients were assigned on EPO for 9-weeks and the remaining 39 were given a placebo.  They found that EPO had beneficial effects on patients’ completion of a range of cognitive tests, including tests on verbal memory, attention span, and planning ability. Tests showed that this improvement was maintained for at least 6-weeks after treatment finished (the longest follow-up time in the trials). The results were presented at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP)conference in Vienna, recently. (Read: Want to boost your mental health? Keep yourself busy)

Source: IANS

Image source: Shutterstock

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