Occult Depressive Symptoms in Adolescent Emergency Department Patients

Abstract

Depressive symptoms occur frequently among adolescents and are often unrecognized. Efforts to increase awareness of depression among ED physicians, adolescents, and parents of adolescents may be beneficial.

Unsuspected or Unacknowledged Depressive Symptoms in Young Adult Emergency Department Patients

“…In adolescent ED patients aged 13-17 years, few adolescents or their parents were able to determine if the adolescent was depressed, as formally measured with the BDI-II. 47 This is in contradistinction to other studies. In a study of urgent care patients, Haughey et al 6 used a validated screening tool 48 consisting of two questions to screen for depressive symptoms.…”

“…Our previous study of adolescent ED patients did not find an association between depressive symptoms and family income, chronic illness, smoking, or African American race. 47 It appears that entry into adulthood creates circumstances related to financial and personal independence that are stress-provoking among our patients and likely contribute to depressive symptoms. We also found that self-report of depression did not predict measured depressive symptoms; 30% of the enrolled patients believed they were currently depressed, but this did not predict a positive BDI-II screening score.…”

“…These characteristics were also found to be highly associated with a positive BDI-II screen in adolescent patients aged 13-17 years. 47 Exposure to violence on a personal level has been previously described as a factor associated with depression. 45,[49][50][51] Future studies are needed to determine if specific questions about exposure to violence are useful in determining if a young adult would benefit from screening for depression in the ED.…”

GPs' role in the detection of psychological problems of young people: a population-based study

“…Moreover, such a practice could reveal occult symptoms of depression, which are frequently present among adolescents. 33 This study focused on young people reporting the need for help for psychological problems. It found that 26% of young people reported this problem, a prevalence that was higher than that reported for mood disorders among young people (5-7%) when using specific tests.…”

A Study on Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Emergency Physicians in Management of Patients with Mental Health Disorders in the City of Hyderabad, India

“…Suicide was the second leading cause of death among 15-29 year olds globally in 2012 (14). Children and adolescents may also present with non-psychiatric problems as such somatization, behavioral disturbances, or substance abuse (15). In India, there is approximately one psychiatrist per 200,000-300,000 people (16).…”