Prevalence of childhood depression in school going adolescents in an urban Indian school

Background: Understanding the prevalence of a psychiatric disorder among children is essential for formulating sound public health policy.

Aim: This study is aimed to estimate the prevalence of depression in urban school-going adolescents and its association with age, sex, and birth order.

Materials and methods: A total of 500 participants in the age group 12-16 years from a working-class community, studying in an urban school, were selected for the study. The children with a score greater than or equal to 19 on the CDI scale were taken for the second phase, and diagnosis of depression was confirmed by a psychiatric consultant through a clinical interview. In clinically diagnosed cases, all help was rendered, including follow-up.

Results: The prevalence of clinical depression among school-going children of age group 12-16 years was 8.4%. There was no significant gender difference in the prevalence of clinical depression. Significantly, more children had clinical depression in the age group of 14-16 years than in the 12-14 years of age group. Depressive symptoms were more among children with first birth order.

Conclusions: These results show that depression is common in school going urban adolescents in India and highlight the need for screening school-age children for depression so that early intervention can be provided.