---
title: Do women with depression show signs of more cellular stress in their bodies?
description: Yes. Women with depressive symptoms had a higher level of a cellular stress marker than women without depressive symptoms, consistent across all menstrual cyc
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/comparison-of-urinary-levels-of-8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine-between-young-females-2015/
---

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- Do women with depression show signs of more cellular stress in their bodies?

Survey study, 2015

# Do women with depression show signs of more cellular stress in their bodies?

Yes. Women with depressive symptoms had a higher level of a cellular stress marker than women without depressive symptoms, consistent across all menstrual cycle phases.

 Early or limited evidence

57 female university students in Japan, average age 22

## What they did

57 female university students from Japan (average age 22) were tested on three different days of their menstrual cycle: menstrual phase (days 1-3), proliferative phase (days 13-15), and secretory phase (days 24-26). Depression was assessed using a depression scale. A cellular stress marker (8-OHdG) was measured in urine.

## What they found

Women with depressive symptoms had a stress marker level of 7.01 ng/mL, while women without depressive symptoms had 3.98 ng/mL. Menstrual cycle phase did not affect stress marker levels. The marker showed good ability to distinguish between women with and without depression across all cycle phases.

## What it means for you

Women with depression show higher cellular stress markers throughout their menstrual cycle. This suggests the link between depression and cellular stress happens regardless of cycle timing. The study was small, done only in Japan, and measured only one stress marker.

57

women studied

7.01 ng/mL

stress marker with depression

3.98 ng/mL

stress marker without depression

## About the study

Original title Comparison of urinary levels of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine between young females with and without depressive symptoms during different menstrual phases Authors Iida T, Inoue K, Ito Y et al. Journal Acta medica Okayama Year 2015 Study design Survey study Participants 57 Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.18926/amo/53121](https://doi.org/10.18926/amo/53121)

## Topics

[Menstrual cycle and mood](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-cycle-mood/)[Low mood and depression](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-depression-mood/)[Stress](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-stress/)[Students and academic performance](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-education/)

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