Depression, Nutritional Status, and Substance P/NK-1R Biomarkers in Dysmenorrhea: A Randomized Crossover Trial

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Substance P, published as a randomized controlled trial.

To explore changes in psychological status (depression, anxiety, and stress), nutritional status, and SP/NK-1R-related biomarker levels across NSAID and dexamethasone plus aprepitant combination therapy phases in females with dysmenorrhea.

Why It Was Studied

SP and NK-1R are neuropeptide related biomarkers involved in nociceptive pathways.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are young adults and adults, women only.

This was a randomized, sequential, within-subject repeated-measures crossover exploratory controlled trial with a parallel healthy control group.

A total of 40 females were enrolled, including 30 with primary dysmenorrhea and 10 healthy controls.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, crossover and parallel-group study.

The participants were allocated by chance, so the Substance P group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Each person switched between Substance P and the comparison at some point, usually with a gap in between.

Groups ran in parallel: each of the participants stayed in one arm throughout.

Psychological status was assessed using DASS-21, and nutritional status using the mini nutritional assessment (MNA).

Serum SP and NK-1R levels were measured using ELISA in a subset of participants due to sample limitations.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Dysmenorrhea, Receptors, Neurokinin-1, Substance P, Biomarkers, Aprepitant, Dexamethasone and Nutritional Status.

Author keywords: depression and neurokinin-1 receptor.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, crossover and parallel-group study of Substance P.

Results are reported in around 8 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2026 (Depression and anxiety), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Substance P compound page, all human trials.