Medical Design and Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • Med Tech Resources
    • DeviceTalks Tuesdays
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • The Big 100
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Video
  • 2022 Leadership in MedTech
    • 2022 Leadership Voting!
    • 2021 Winners
    • 2020 Winners
  • Women in Medtech

The Brain-Gut Connection: A Link Between Depression and Common Hospital-Acquired Infection

May 7, 2013 By University of Michigan Health System

Adults with depression, widowed Americans, and seniors who live alone more likely to develop Clostridium difficile infection; some antidepressants modify risk

Adults with depression and who receive certain types of anti-depressants have an increased risk of developing Clostridium difficile, a costly and serious hospital-associated infection, according to a new University of Michigan Health System study.

Older Americans who were widowed and those who lived alone were also more likely to develop C. difficile, a bacterium that causes a growing number of serious infections in U.S. hospitals and nursing homes and is responsible for more than 7,000 deaths a year in the country. Symptoms range from diarrhea to life-threatening colon inflammation.

The findings appear in BioMed Central’s open access journal BMC Medicine.

“We have long known that depression is associated with changes in the gastrointestinal system. In our research, we have shown that adults with depression are more likely to develop Clostridium difficile infection – a potentially fatal infection. Each year in the US, there are more than 300,000 such infections in hospitals alone,” says lead author Mary Rogers, Ph.D., M.S., research assistant professor in Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and research director of the Patient Safety Enhancement Program at the U-M Health System and the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System.

“These findings will help us better identify those at risk of C. difficile infection and hopefully encourage exploration of the underlying interactions between the brain and the gut.”

In a nationally representative sample of older Americans, Rogers and her colleagues found that individuals with major depression were 36 percent more likely to develop C. difficile infection than those without depression. Adults who were widowed had a 54 percent greater risk than married peers while those who lived with others had a 25 percent decreased risk compared to those who lived alone.

“We know that older people who live alone are more likely to experience depression so it’s possible that the link between C. difficile infection and widowhood reflects the relationship between depression and this type of infection,” says Rogers, who is also a member of the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation.

Authors also found that patients who received common antidepressants Remeron (mirtazapine) and Prozac (fluoxetine) were twice as likely to test positive for C. difficile. Both drugs have previously been linked to gastrointestinal side effects. Meanwhile, most types of antidepressants did not affect infection risk.

It is unclear whether the increase in infection risk is due to microbial changes in the gut during depression or to the medications associated with depression, authors note.

“This relationship between specific anti-depressants and C. difficile is new and needs to be studied further,” Rogers says. “People with these prescriptions should not stop taking them unless otherwise advised by their physician.”

For more information, visit University of Michigan Health System.

Related Articles Read More >

DeepWell Digital Therapeutics Mike Wilson Ryan Douglas
How DeepWell is developing video games as tools for treating medical conditions
A woman with a small, handheld device in her lap with tubes that look like earphones plugged into her ears.
Ear-puffing device for migraine treatment wins FDA breakthrough designation
Abbott
Abbott launches upgraded digital health app for neurostimulation
Catheter delivery could enable better brain implants: Synchron’s neuroscience chief explains how

DeviceTalks Weekly.

May 13, 2022
Our Pre-Post-DeviceTalks Boston episode, also MedtronicTalks replay with Gastro CMO Austin Chiang
See More >

MDO Digital Edition

Digital Edition

Subscribe to Medical Design & Outsourcing. Bookmark, share and interact with the leading medical design engineering magazine today.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
DeviceTalks

DeviceTalks is a conversation among medical technology leaders. It's events, podcasts, webinars and one-on-one exchanges of ideas & insights.

DeviceTalks

New MedTech Resource

Medical Tubing

Enewsletter Subscriptions

Enewsletter Subscriptions

MassDevice

Mass Device

The Medical Device Business Journal. MassDevice is the leading medical device news business journal telling the stories of the devices that save lives.

Visit Website
MDO ad
Medical Design and Outsourcing
  • MassDevice
  • DeviceTalks
  • MedTech 100 Index
  • Medical Tubing + Extrusion
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing World
  • R&D World
  • About Us/Contact
  • Advertise With Us
  • Subscribe to Print Magazine
  • Subscribe to E-newsletter
  • Attend our Monthly Webinars
  • Listen to our Weekly Podcasts
  • Join our DeviceTalks Tuesdays Discussion

Copyright © 2022 WTWH Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Site Map | Privacy Policy | RSS

Search Medical Design & Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • Med Tech Resources
    • DeviceTalks Tuesdays
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • The Big 100
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Video
  • 2022 Leadership in MedTech
    • 2022 Leadership Voting!
    • 2021 Winners
    • 2020 Winners
  • Women in Medtech