Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth status in patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder

Although depression is common in the world, it is a highly recurrent disease that deteriorates the quality of life. The main pathogenesis of major depressive disorder (MDD) is not fully understood, and many studies have shown that microbiota affects the central nervous system and is associated with depression. Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is a change in the types of bacteria in the small intestine and / or an increase in the number of bacteria. Stress is also known to alter the microbiota, and therefore SIBO is thought to be associated with MDD. This study aims to reveal the relationship between MDD and SIBO. The study was carried out with 45 MDD patients and 49 healthy volunteers who were admitted to the outpatient clinic of Başkent University Faculty of Medicine Ankara Hospital and Health Sciences University Dışkapı Yıldırım Beyazıt Training and Research Hospital between 23.01.2019-15.07.2019. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) were performed. For the evaluation of SIBO, H2 and CH4 levels in breath were measured following oral glucose solution. 14,9% (n = 14) of the participants (n = 94) were SIBO positive and there was no significant relationship between the groups (p> 0.05). However, methane positivity was significantly higher in the patient group (p <0.05). There was no significant relationship between demographic characteristics and body mass index in both groups (p> 0.05). Although this study did not show the relationship between MDD and SIBO, more MDD populations need to be investigated.