Researchers develop blood test for anxiety: report

Around 4% of the global population is estimated to be suffering from anxiety. That is around 275 million people. Now, American researchers have developed a blood test to diagnose anxiety.

A team of scientists at the Indiana University School of Medicine has designed a test that examines the biomarkers that can objectively determine a person's risk of developing anxiety and the severity of their current anxiety. This will also help health professionals determine which therapies will benefit them the best, said the study published in Molecular Psychiatry.

Indianapolis-based startup MindX Sciences is in charge of developing blood tests for wider use by doctors.

Professor of psychiatry Alexander Niculescu said the current approach to diagnosing anxiety is to talk to people and see if they feel like being on medications. "But, some medications can be addictive and create more problems."

"We wanted to see if our approach to identify blood biomarkers could help us match people to existing medications that will work better and could be a non-addictive choice," he added.

According to the World Economic Forum, between 2.5% and 6.5% of the population per country is struggling with anxiety. Around 62% of the patients are women. That is 170 million women compared with 105 million men.