Eye Movement Abnormalities in Major Depressive Disorder

Main points of the article "Eye Movement Abnormalities in Major Depressive Disorder":

1. Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is difficult to diagnose, and there is a need for biomarkers for its diagnosis.

2. Eye movements are considered potential non-invasive biomarkers for psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia.

3. The study evaluated detailed eye movement measurements of 37 MDD patients and 400 healthy controls.

4. Three eye movement tests were conducted: free-viewing, fixation stability, and smooth pursuit tests.

5. Significant differences were found in eye movement measurements between MDD patients and healthy controls.

6. In the free-viewing test, scanpath length was significantly shorter in MDD patients.

7. In the smooth pursuit test, duration of saccades and peak saccade velocity were significantly different in MDD patients.

8. There were significant group differences in older subjects for certain eye movement measurements.

9. A discriminant analysis using eye movement data showed MDD could be distinguished from healthy controls with 72.1% accuracy.

10. The study suggests that detailed eye movement tests can assist in differentiating MDD from healthy controls, especially in older individuals.