The Epworth Centre for Innovation in Mental Health (ECIMH) is currently looking for people experiencing depression who may be interested in participating in a study exploring whether monitoring and analysing heart rate can aid in identifying people who have moderate-to-severe depression. They are seeking people with depression aged over 18 years old, who did not have sleep apnoea, and do not have other mental health conditions (such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia).
The total time for participation is approximately 2 weeks, and involves 3 to 4 visits to Epworth Camberwell, and four heart rate recordings during that time. Parking and reimbursement for their time (up to $300) will be provided to all participants. We hope the findings may contribute in the future to earlier diagnosis of depression, and tracking of treatment effectiveness.
The trial has been approved by the Epworth HealthCare Human Research Ethics Committee. If you have any queries, or would like any other information about the study please don’t hesitate to let Dr Natalia Contreras know on mentalhealthresearch@epworth.org.au or (03) 9805 4126.