Mouth bacteria partially spread depression and anxiety in newlywed couples

https://www.xiahepublishing.com/2472-0712/ERHM-2025-00013

53•nreece•8mo ago

Comments

paulryanrogers•8mo ago

It appears they didn't control for folks who lived together or had begun open-mouth kissing before marriage. Am I missing something?

jrsdav•8mo ago

Not to mention how difficult it can be to transition to sleeping with a bed partner, let alone one who is an insomniac.

benregenspan•8mo ago

"It can be argued that deriving a conclusive understanding from our preliminary findings is challenging without controlling for confounders (e.g., shared diet, stress exposure, and frequency of intimacy)." Seems like "stress exposure" is doing a lot of work there.

azinman2•8mo ago

This is in Iran, so presumably there’s less of that than in other places in the world?

gwern•8mo ago

This is Iran, so the researchers are often not great, or it's just straightup fraudulent. It's one of the epicenters of developing-world science fraud. So always worth keeping that in mind - there may not, in fact, be any facts that have to be explained.

networked•8mo ago

The study says sleep quality is also affected. I have doubts about this transmission mechanism, but it is an idea made for speculative fiction with a Gothic tinge. It's like a light version of vampirism without all the blood: they kiss you (for a while), and you become morose and nocturnal.

justonceokay•8mo ago

After reading I’m confused how oral bacteria is shown to be the cause. What I’m reading is that moving in with a depressed person is depressing.

k2enemy•8mo ago

They cite work showing that "oral microbiota dysbiosis is significantly correlated with various neuropsychiatric disorders, including autism spectrum disorder, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, anxiety, epilepsy, and depression."

No claims are made that oral microbiota cause depression and anxiety. I find it easy to believe that after marriage, couples converge in depression and anxiety absent any kissing. And because of kissing, their oral microbiota will also converge. But that doesn't imply that kissing is the cause of the convergence in depression and anxiety. Maybe I am missing something.

LargoLasskhyfv•8mo ago

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