Examining Stress and Residual Symptoms in Remitted and Partially Remitted Depression Using a Wearable Electrodermal Activity Device: A Pilot Study

Consistent evidence suggests residual symptoms and stress are the most reliable predictors of relapse in remitted depression. Prevailing methodologies often do not enable continuous real-time sampling of stress. Thus, little is known about day-to-day interactions between residual symptoms and stress...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE journal of translational engineering in health and medicine 2023-01, Vol.11, p.96-106
Main Authors: Whiston, Aoife, Igou, Eric R., Fortune, Donal G., Analog Devices Team, Semkovska, Maria
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Assessments
Atmospheric measurements
Biomedical monitoring
Depression
Depression - diagnosis
Depressive Disorder, Major - complications
Diaries
electrodermal activity
Fatigue
Galvanic Skin Response
Human factors
Humans
Mental depression
Particle measurements
Physiology
Pilot Projects
relapse
Remission (Medicine)
residual symptoms
Skin
stress
Stress (physiology)
Stress measurement
wearable devices
Wearable Electronic Devices
Wearable technology
Wrist
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Summary:Consistent evidence suggests residual symptoms and stress are the most reliable predictors of relapse in remitted depression. Prevailing methodologies often do not enable continuous real-time sampling of stress. Thus, little is known about day-to-day interactions between residual symptoms and stress in remitted depression. In preparation for a full-scale trial, this study aimed to pilot a wrist-worn wearable electrodermal activity monitor: ADI (Analog Devices, Inc.) Study Watch for assessing interactions between physiological stress and residual depressive symptoms following depression remission. 13 individuals remitted from major depression completed baseline, daily diary, and post-daily diary assessments. Self-reported stress and residual symptoms were measured at baseline and post-daily diary. Diary assessments required participants to wear ADI's Study Watch during waking hours and complete self-report questionnaires every evening over one week. Sleep problems, fatigue, energy loss, and agitation were the most frequently reported residual symptoms. Average skin conductance responses (SCRs) were 16.09 per-hour, with an average of 11.30 hours of wear time per-day. Increased residual symptoms were associated with enhanced self-reported stress on the same day. Increased SCRs on one day predicted increased residual symptoms on the next day. This study showed a wearable electrodermal activity device can be recommended for examining stress as a predictor of remitted depression. This study also provides preliminary work on relationships between residual symptoms and stress in remitted depression. Importantly, significant findings from the small sample of this pilot are preliminary with an aim to follow up with a 3-week full-scale study to draw conclusions about psychological processes explored. Clinical and Translational Impact Statemen-ADI's wearable electrodermal activity device enables a continuous measure of physiological stress for identifying its interactions with residual depressive symptoms following remission. This novel procedure is promising for future studies.
ISSN:2168-2372
2168-2372
DOI:10.1109/JTEHM.2022.3228483