Medical Bulletin 17/ February/ 2025 - Video

Adults with a history of depression gain long-term physical conditions around 30% faster than those without, according to research published in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine.

The team included 172,556 volunteers in the UK Biobank study, aged 40-71 years, who completed a baseline assessment between 2006 and 2010. They selected 69 physical conditions and followed participants for an average of 6.9 years. Initially, those with depression had an average of three physical conditions compared with an average of two in those without. Over the study period, adults with a history of depression accrued an average of 0.2 additional physical conditions per year, while those without accrued 0.16. The most common new conditions were osteoarthritis, hypertension and gastroesophageal reflux disease.

The results highlight that previous diagnosis of depression is a marker of risk for development of long-term physical health conditions during middle and older-age.

The authors add, “People who’ve experienced depression are more likely to develop long-term physical health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes; however, existing healthcare systems are designed to treat individual conditions, instead of individual people with multiple conditions. We need healthcare services to take an integrated approach to caring for people who have both depression and long-term physical health conditions.”

Reference: Fleetwood KJ, Guthrie B, Jackson CA, Kelly PAT, Mercer SW, Morales DR, et al. (2025) Depression and physical multimorbidity: A cohort study of physical health condition accrual in UK Biobank. PLoS Med 22(2): e1004532. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004532

A simple scoring system could improve how doctors prevent heart attacks and strokes by identifying patients most likely to benefit from preventive medications, according to a new study published in circulation research.

The test, called the TRIPLE Score, measures specific proteins on blood platelets along with the patient's age to help doctors make more informed decisions about prescribing blood-thinning medications such as aspirin and clopidogrel.

The test requires only a small blood sample and could be developed into a straightforward tool that any healthcare provider could use, not just specialists. The study team found that their new scoring system successfully identified patients whose blood was more likely to form clots in laboratory tests. The results also aligned with existing risk scores that doctors use to predict a patient's likelihood of having a heart attack in the next 10 years.

The test, which is not yet widely available, is being developed so that it can eventually be used at the point-of-care. This will then be implemented in patient studies to verify that the test can improve their care.

Dr Alexander Bye, lead author of the research at the University of Reading, said: "Around 100,000 heart attacks occur each year in the UK, despite significant progress in preventing them. We must think of smarter ways to use drugs like aspirin if we are going to bring this number down. Our new test will help doctors make sure that patients receive the best treatment and keep their quality of life. Next, we aim to make the test even easier to use by developing a finger prick test, so that it as simple as measuring blood glucose."

Reference: Bye, A. P., Kriek, N., Kempster, C., Dunster, J. L., Mitchell, J. L., Sage, T., ... & Gibbins, J. M. (2025). TRIPLE score: GPVI and CD36 expression predict a prothrombotic platelet function phenotype. Circulation Research.

A study published today in Nature shows the research team’s innovative approach to making the zinc alloy as strong as permanent steel implants and more durable than other biodegradable options like magnesium-based implants.

Surgeons routinely use stainless steel or titanium, which stay in the body forever, can cause discomfort and may require follow-up surgeries. A new zinc alloy, designed by Monash biomedical engineers, could solve these problems by being mechanically strong but gentle enough to degrade safely over time while supporting optimal healing.

The research shows that by engineering the size and orientation of the material’s grains, the zinc alloy can bend and adapt in unique ways to accommodate the shapes of its neighbouring tissues.

Lead researcher, Professor Jian-feng Nie, from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, said the innovative material had the potential to transform orthopaedic care by reducing complications, minimising the need for additional surgeries, and offering a sustainable alternative to permanent metallic implants.

“Our zinc alloy material could revolutionise orthopaedic care – opening the door to safer, smaller implants that not only enhance patient comfort but also promote better healing outcomes by minimising disruption to surrounding tissues,” Professor Nie said.

“An implant that never disappears will always be a risk to the patient. On the other hand, one that degrades too fast won’t allow adequate time for the bones to heal. With our zinc alloy material, we can achieve the optimal balance between strength and controlled degradation of the implant to promote better healing.”

“This made it not only stronger but more flexible, offering a game-changing alternative for orthopaedics,” Professor Nie said.

Reference: Wu, C., Lin, F., Liu, H. et al. Stronger and coarser-grained biodegradable zinc alloys. Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08415-8

In a study published in Nature Cardiovascular Research, the research team found that tricaprin, a natural supplement, can improve long-term survival and recovery from heart failure in patients with triglyceride deposit cardiomyovasculopathy (TGCV).

TGCV is a new type of heart disease; it results from an impaired ability of the heart and smooth muscle cells to break down triglycerides, which causes structural and functional damage in the heart and blood vessels. These changes result in clogged arteries and weakened heart muscles, which may cause debilitating symptoms and eventually heart failure, necessitating heart transplantation.

The researchers enrolled patients diagnosed with the condition from Japanese registries and compared the survival rates between those who had received tricaprin and those who did not. The study involved 22 patients from 12 different hospitals who had received tricaprin and 190 controls. The researchers studied the effect of tricaprin on triglyceride breakdown; to overcome differences in the compared groups, 81 of the 190 controls were matched with the tricaprin group according to their baseline characteristics for comparison of survival rates.

All the enrolled patients initially had heart failure; nevertheless, the 3- and 5-year survival rates were significantly higher in the tricaprin group (100% and 100%, respectively) compared with the control group (78.6% and 68.1%, respectively). Another favorable result was that several patients who had positive effects with tricaprin were on hemodialysis. These patients have a very poor prognosis without tricaprin.

This new research delivers the hope that patients can not only sustain but also recover their hearts from debilitating heart failure.

Reference: Hirano, Ki., Okamura, S., Sugimura, K. et al. Long-term survival and durable recovery of heart failure in patients with triglyceride deposit cardiomyovasculopathy treated with tricaprin. Nat Cardiovasc Res (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44161-025-00611-7