Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42493609›Full record

ArticleMolecular psychiatry2026

Gut Microbiome in Depression with and without REM Sleep Behavior Disorder.

Yuhua Yang, Ningning Li, Li Zhou, Siyi Gong, Zhixuan He, Shi Tang, Jianzhang Ni, Yaping Liu, Joey W Y Chan, Brian P N Or and 13 more

Abstract read
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Molecular psychiatry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

23 authors.

Yuhua YangDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5590-8348
Ningning LiDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China.
Li ZhouDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China.
Siyi GongDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China.
Zhixuan HeDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China.
Shi TangDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China.
Jianzhang NiDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China.
Yaping LiuDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2015-8775
Joey W Y ChanDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2692-2666
Brian P N OrDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0009-7364-9971
Siu Ping LamDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China.
Jihui ZhangDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4976-3039
Paul K S ChanDepartment of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Zigui ChenDepartment of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Sunny H WongLee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 308232, Singapore.
Vincent C T MokDepartment of Medicine and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8102-8835
Ngan Yin ChanDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China.
Steven W H ChauDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2986-8677
Christopher K C LaiDepartment of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8591-5944
Filip ScheperjansDepartment of Neurology, Helsinki University Hospital, and Clinicum, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Jing WangDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China. audreywangj@outlook.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9906-8712
Bei HuangDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China. beihuang@cuhk.edu.hk.
Yun Kwok WingDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China. ykwing@cuhk.edu.hk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5745-5474

Funding

Food and Health Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region | Health and Medical Research Fund (HMRF) 05162876Food and Health Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region | Health and Medical Research Fund (HMRF) 18190221Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee (RGC, UGC) C4044-21G
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a risk factor for neurodegeneration, yet its heterogeneity makes identifying at-risk subtype challenging. Notably, MDD frequently co-occurs with REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD), a specific prodrome of α-synucleinopathy. It remains unclear whether comorbid MDD + RBD reflects a benign antidepressant effect, or higher neurodegenerative risk. Given growing recognition of gut-brain axis in neuropsychiatry, we aimed to delineate microbial signatures of MDD + RBD. We employed a four-group case-control design (N = 420) comprising 124 healthy controls (HC); 80 MDD without RBD features (MDD-only); 82 MDD + RBD; and 134 iRBD without psychiatric disease. All participants underwent clinical evaluation and provided fecal samples for metagenomic sequencing. Random Forest model was used to distinguish MDD + RBD, and further assessed in a validation dataset of 65 participants with MDD + RBD (n = 31) and MDD-only (n = 34). MDD + RBD exhibited prodromal neurodegenerative features, including elevated total likelihood ratio of prodromal Parkinson's Disease, olfactory deficits, and subtle motor signs. The microbial composition in MDD + RBD differed from HC and MDD-only, while resembling iRBD. Taxonomically, MDD + RBD exhibited an iRBD-like dysbiosis (e.g., enriched Akkermansia muciniphila, Ruthenibacterium lactatiformans; depleted Faecalibacterium prausnitzii), alongside depression-associated shifts (e.g., Streptococcus parasanguinis and Actinomyces oris). Functionally, MDD + RBD showed attenuated capacity of B‑vitamin biosynthesis and polysaccharides degradation, mirroring iRBD. The Random Forest machine-learning model distinguished MDD + RBD in older adults from MDD-only with an AUC of 0.73 in cross-validation and 0.79 in the validation dataset. MDD + RBD may represent a biologically distinct depression subtype associated with potential neurodegenerative risk. Gut microbiome provides a candidate approach for potential risk stratification in psychiatric populations.

Identifiers

What Socratic holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.