Depression: Children With Depressed Parents End Up Depressed Themselves, With Higher Death Risk As Well

Children of depressed parents have a higher risk for depression, illness and death continuing into their middle age, according to according to the latest report from  a 30-year study on families at high- and low-risk for depression.  The study was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

"These findings indicate that a simple family history of assessment of major depression can help identify individuals at long-term risk for depression," said Myrna Weissman, PhD, via Science Daily. Weissman is the Diane Goldman Kemper Family professor of epidemiology (in psychiatry) at Columbia University Medical Center and one of the lead authors of the study.

Children of depressed parents at high risk of adverse consequences into adulthood https://t.co/DOdVrBLyOB @ColumbiaMed

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Children Of Depressed Parents Continue To Be At High Risk

There were previous reports from the study at 10- and 20-year follow-up periods, or the time when the children were either adolescents or young adults. The 30-year follow-up period showed that the children of depressed parents continue to have "a three-fold increase in the risk of major depression or anxiety."

The children belonging to the high-risk group that had early-onset depression had higher chances of recurring depression after they turned 20. Meanwhile, the children from the low-risk group showed no added risk of depression recurrence.

Those from the high-risk group had greater chances of being separated, divorced or have fewer children. They were also subject to more treatment and functioned worse overall compared to those from the low-risk group.

Depression in Parents Affects Treatment For Depressed Children

Science Daily said that major depression usually starts in adolescence for both high- and low-risk people. However, children who have a family history of depression "are more likely to have recurrent episodes of depression and poor outcomes as they mature."

Weissman said via Medical Xpress that highly effective prevention programs for previously depressed adolescents had less impact if the parent of the child was depressed. "Our previous work has shown that treatment of the depressed parent to remission can reduce the symptoms of depression for both parent and child," Weissman added.

Depression And Genetics

BBC reported that the King's College in London has been studying the genetics behind mental health. So far, researchers have found nine genes across people with depression.

"Evidence from the last few years also suggests that many mental disorders share common genetic risk factors - for instance, genetic variation associated with schizophrenia overlaps with both depression and bipolar disorder," said Prof Cathryn Lewis. Lewis is a researcher from the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research.

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