Background. This article presents prospective longitudinal findings on prevalence, incidence, patterns of change and stability of depressive disorders in a community sample of 1228 adolescents.
Methods. Data were collected at baseline and follow-up (20 months later) in a representative population sample of 1228 adolescents, aged 14–17 at baseline. Diagnostic assessment was based on the Munich Composite International Diagnostic Interview (M-CIDI).
Results. The overall cumulative lifetime incidence of any depressive condition was 20·0% (major depressive disorder (MDD), 12·2%; dysthymia, 3·5%; subthreshold MDD, 6·3%), of which about one-third were incident depressions in the period between baseline and follow-up. Depressive disorders rarely started before the age of 13. Females were about twice as likely as males to develop a depressive disorder. Overall, the 20-month outcome of baseline depression was unfavourable. Dysthymia had the poorest outcome of all, with a complete remission rate of only 33% versus 43% for MDD and 54% for subthreshold MDD. Dysthymia also had the highest number of depressive episodes, and most psychosocial impairment and suicidal behavioural during follow-up. Treatment rates were low (8–23%). Subthreshold MDD associated with considerable impairment had an almost identical course and outcome as threshold MDD.
Conclusions. DSM-IV MDD and dysthymia are rare before the age of 13, but frequent during adolescence, with an estimated lifetime cumulative incidence of 14%. Only a minority of these disorders in adolescence is treated, and more than half of them persist or remit only partly.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:26431 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Oldehinkel, Albertine J., Wittchen, Hans-Ulrich, Schuster, Peter |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Source | Psychological Medicine, Bd. 29 (1999), Nr. 3, S. 655-668, ISSN: 0033-2917 |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 0033-2917 |
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