It's one significant breakthrough in Psychiatry: depression is now detectable in teenage boys, reports The Times of India. The discovery of this biological marker may help save thousands of teenage lives.

A team of scientists from the University of Cambridge has found that the detecting clinical depression may be made by determining if the patient has elevated levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, paired with symptoms of depression. Teenage boys who manifest this fatal combination are reportedly '14 times more likely to develop major depression,' according to the Yorkshire Post.

This first ever biological marker for depression will result to better diagnosis and better treatment, as it will enable healthcare workers to single out teens suffering from acute depression, and provide them immediate treatment in the early stages of this mental illness.

Ian Goodyer, the Cambridge University professor who led the study, early detection is key in alleviating the devastating impact of serious depression in adult life. He said, "Through our research, we now have a very real way of identifying those teenage boys most likely to develop clinical depression. This will help us strategically target preventions and interventions at these individuals and hopefully help reduce their risk of serious episodes of depression and their consequences in adult life, "according to Express & Star.

The Cambridge study team studied two separate groups of teenagers. The first group consisted of 660 teens who had their cortisol level measured by providing four saliva samples on early mornings during school days for one whole week. The same procedure was repeated one year later. For this group, scientists discovered that cortisol levels were 'stable' for one-year periods in both male and female teens, according to The Times of India. The second big group of teens consisted of 1,198 subjects, who also provided early-morning saliva samples over three school days. This group was further divided into four sub-groups as researchers used medical data and self-reports about depression to categorize the teens according to their cortisol levels and their symptoms of depression. Results showed that the group with elevated levels of morning cortisol and high symptoms of depression was most likely susceptible to clinical depression than the other groups. They are seven times more likely, at most, to develop clinical depression, notes Herald Scotland.

In the United States, depression among teenagers is prevalent, with reportedly 10-15% of children and teenagers experiencing this mental instability at a given time, according to Psych Central. Depression is the leading cause of suicides in the country.