Geolocation features differentiate healthy from remitted depressed adults

Abstract

Depression recurrence is debilitating, and there is a pressing need to develop clinical tools that detect the reemergence of symptoms with the aim of bridging patients to treatment before recurrences. At baseline, remitted depressed adults (n = 22) and healthy controls (n = 24) were administered clinical interviews and completed self-report symptom measures. Then, smartphone apps were installed on personal smartphones to acquire geolocation data over 21 days and ecological momentary assessment of positive and negative affect during the initial 14-day period. Compared with healthy controls, remitted depressed adults exhibited reduced circadian routine (regularity of one's daily routine) and lower average daily distance traveled. Further, reduced distance traveled associated with greater daily negative affect after controlling for depression severity; however, this effect was not more pronounced among remitted adults. A least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression indicated that a linear combination of circadian routine, average distance traveled, and baseline depression severity classified remitted depressed individuals with 72% accuracy; outperforming models restricted to either geolocation or clinical measures alone. Mobile sensing approaches hold enormous promise to improve clinical care for depressive disorders. Although barriers remain, leveraging technological advancements related to real-time monitoring can improve treatment for depressed patients and potentially, reduce high rates of recurrence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Figure 1.

Boxplot Comparison of Circadian Routine and Average Distance Traveled Note. Top panel shows boxplot comparison of circadian routine between groups across the 20-day study period; Bottom panel displays boxplot comparison of average daily distance traveled across the study period. *p<.05 ***p≤.0001

Figure 2.

Group Comparison of Average Distance Traveled During Study Period Note. HC=Healthy Control; remMDD=Remitted Depressed; Comparing daily average distance traveled over 20-day study period