Um novo estudo da Universidade de Oxford revelou que os pacientes que tomam estatinas reduziram o viés emocional negativo.
As estatinas têm sido associadas à redução do viés emocional negativo
Com 17,3 milhões de americanos adultos afetados, a depressão é um dos transtornos mentais mais prevalentes no país. Um humor sombrio ou deprimido que dura duas semanas ou mais é considerado depressão maior.
A depressão é distinta das mudanças de humor comuns e breves reações emocionais a problemas na vida diária. A depressão pode evoluir para uma condição médica grave, principalmente se for recorrente e de intensidade moderada a grave. O indivíduo aflito pode sofrer severos sofrimentos e ter um mau desempenho no trabalho, na escola e com a família. Nos piores casos, a depressão pode resultar em suicídio.
Desde a sua introdução no final da década de 1980 para prevenir ataques cardíacos e derrames, as estatinas foram aclamadas como uma droga milagrosa e prescritas para dezenas de milhões de indivíduos. No entanto, algumas pesquisas sugeriram que os medicamentos ainda podem ter outros benefícios, principalmente aqueles para a saúde mental. Um estudo recente investiga o impacto das estatinas no viés emocional, fator de risco para depressão. O estudo aparece em Psiquiatria Biológica e foi publicado pela Elsevier.
O estudo observacional online foi realizado entre abril de 2020 e fevereiro de 2021 por uma equipe de pesquisadores da Universidade de Oxford em Oxford, Reino Unido, sob a direção de Amy Gillespie, Ph.D. Neste momento, o[{” attribute=””>SARS-CoV-2 epidemic was at its peak, and there was a significant increase in the prevalence of psychiatric disorders as well as worldwide stress levels.
More than 2000 participants in the UK kept records of their current psychiatric symptoms, medications, and other aspects of their way of life. In order to assess memory, reward, and emotion processing—all of which are connected to depression vulnerability—they also completed cognitive activities. In one experiment, participants had to determine the emotional state of faces that expressed various levels of dread, happiness, sorrow, disgust, anger, or terror.
The vast majority of subjects (84%) were not taking either medication, but a small group were either taking only statins (4%), only a different class of anti-hypertension medication (6%), or both (5%).
Participants taking statins were less likely to recognize fearful or angry faces and more likely to report them as positive, indicating they had reduced negative emotional bias.
Dr. Gillespie said, “We found that taking a statin medication was associated with significantly lower levels of negative emotional bias when interpreting facial expressions; this was not seen with other medications, such as blood pressure medications.”
“We know that reducing negative emotional bias can be important for the treatment of depression,” said Dr. Gillespie. “Our findings are important as they provide evidence that statins may provide protection against depression. Of particular note, we saw these results during the high-stress context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings also provide the first potential psychological explanation of statins’ mental health benefits,” in that they seem to affect emotion processing. It remains unclear exactly how statins could protect against mental illness, but one possibility is that they may work through anti-inflammatory mechanisms, which have also been implicated in depression.
John Krystal, MD, Editor of Biological Psychiatry, said of the work, “Statins are among the most commonly prescribed medications based on their ability to prevent heart attacks and strokes. These new data raise the possibility that some of their positive effects on health could be mediated by the effects of these drugs on the brain that promote emotional resilience.”
“Researchers should prioritize investigating the possible use of statins as a preventative intervention for depression. Before use in clinical practice, it is important that future research confirms the potential psychological benefits of statins through controlled, randomized clinical trials,” Dr. Gillespie concluded.
Reference: “Associations Between Statin Use and Negative Affective Bias During COVID-19: An Observational, Longitudinal UK Study Investigating Depression Vulnerability” by Amy L. Gillespie, Chloe Wigg, Indra Van Assche, Susannah E. Murphy and Catherine J. Harmer, 19 March 2022, Biological Psychiatry.
DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2022.03.009
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