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A Angold

Publications and source records attributed to A Angold.

48 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Depressive comorbidity in children and adolescents: empirical, theoretical, and methodological issues.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to examine comorbidity in the context of child and adolescent depression. METHOD: The authors reviewed recent epidemiological studies using standardized interviews and DSM-III or DSM-III-R criteria. RESULTS: There was a high rate of comorbidity in children and adolescents with major depressive disorders or dysthymia. Comorbidity with conduct disorder/oppositional defiant disorder ranged from 21% to 83%; comorbidity with anxiety disorder ranged from 30% to 75%; and comorbidity with attention deficit disorder ranged from 0% to 57.1%. Rates of depressive comorbidity found in community studies were similar to the rates found in clinical studies. In almost all cases, the disorders were more common in depressed children than expected by chance, and the rates of other disorders in depressed children were higher than the rates of depression in those with depression. CONCLUSIONS: The mechanisms by which comorbidity occurs are obscure at present. Several possibilities and their implications for nosology, epidemiology, and treatment research are discussed.

Adolescent↗

Mood variability in adolescents: a study of depressed, nondepressed and comorbid patients.

In a study to examine the variability of mood in psychiatrically disturbed adolescents, 30 inpatients aged 13-17 reported on current depressive symptoms three times a day for seven consecutive days, using a set of visual analog scales (the Adolescent Mood Scale: AMS) to record DSM-IIIR and other depressive symptoms. Ten of the patients had no depressive diagnosis; 11 had both a depressive and an 'externalizing' diagnosis (mainly conduct disorders and substance abuse disorders), and nine had depressive diagnoses but no externalizing disorder. Variability was defined in terms of (1) range of AMS scores; (2) amount of change from one test point to the next; (3) rhythmicity, measured by the autocorrelation function across 21 test points. All three groups had high levels of depressive symptoms throughout the week. On all measures of severity of depression, the depressed girls were more depressed than the depressed boys, irrespective of comorbidity. Measures of variability, however, showed no effect of sex, but comorbid patients were more likely to have a wide range of mood scores, and reported a 45% greater amount of mood change. Only five subjects had a significant lag1 autocorrelation function, and there was no indication of diurnal rhythmicity. Implications for research and diagnosis are discussed.

Adolescent↗

The effects of age and sex on depression ratings in children and adolescents.

The self-reports of depressive symptomatology of the 89 children and the parental reports of 62 parents whose children had such symptoms from a sample of 220 children, aged 6 to 23 years, in a family-genetic study of children at high and low risk of depression were examined for the effects of the age and sex of the child. The age of the child at interview proved to have a significant effect upon the dating of the onset of dysphoric episodes and the dating of the worst ever episode of dysphoria. The older girls reported about two more depressive symptoms on average than the younger girls. This finding was obscured unless account was taken of the age at which the subjects were interviewed. However, these effects did not apply to a group of melancholia-related symptoms. There were no consistent effects of age at interview or age at episode on the symptom reports of the boys or in the reports from the parents about both their male and female children.

Adolescent↗

Seclusion.

Seclusion is a commonly used management technique in some areas of psychiatric practice. However, its theoretical and empirical underpinnings are greatly wanting in many respects. This paper reviews the present state of our knowledge and ignorance about seclusion, and suggests some strategies for much-needed research.

Adult↗

Childhood and adolescent depression. I. Epidemiological and aetiological aspects.

Depression in childhood and adolescence has become a topic of considerable research interest in the last decade. A number of studies ranging over the last half-century provide information about the prevalence of depressive symptoms and syndromes in non-referred populations. These studies are critically reviewed in the light of an analysis of the various meanings that the term 'depression' may carry, and a variety of methodological issues. The sparse evidence for the involvement of a number of potential risk factors for depressive disorders is then considered and suggestions for future work in this area are outlined.

Adolescent↗

Childhood and adolescent depression. II: Research in clinical populations.

The tremendous increase in interest in childhood and adolescent depression that has occurred since the early 1970s has resulted in a large and contradictory literature. Development of the concept of childhood depression, and the many clinical studies of depression and its concomitants, both psychosocial and biological, are critically reviewed. A number of methodological and theoretical problems are discussed.

Adolescent↗

Parent and child reports of depressive symptoms in children at low and high risk of depression.

The K-SADS-E psychiatric interview was administered to children and parents (N = 220) from families containing proband parents who had previously been depressed or who were normal. Agreement between parents and their children about depressive symptoms in the children was significant but low. Boy's reports agreed more highly with their parents' reports about them than did girls' reports. Overall, the children reported more depressive symptoms than their parents reported about them and the overall pattern suggests that parents are relatively insensitive to their children's depressive symptomatology, but their reports show high specificity. The implications of these findings for research and clinical work are discussed.

Adolescent↗

Depressed parents and their children. General health, social, and psychiatric problems.

Two hundred twenty children (aged 6 to 23 years) from families with either depressed or normal (nonpsychiatrically ill) parents of comparable sociodemographic backgrounds were studied. The children from families in which at least one parent had experienced a major depression were reported to have had more adverse perinatal events; were later in achieving some developmental landmarks; had more convulsions, head injuries, operations, and psychiatric disorders (particularly major depression); and made more suicide attempts. Overall, there were no significant differences in IQ between children in both groups. Mothers in families with a depressed parent reported more medical problems during pregnancy and labor, and the children were reported to have experienced more distress at birth. Since major depression is a highly prevalent disorder in women of childbearing ages, these findings have direct clinical implications for pediatricians. Their specificity for major depression, as contrasted with other psychiatric disorders or chronic illnesses in the parents, requires further study.

Adolescent↗

Puberty onset of gender differences in rates of depression: a developmental, epidemiologic and neuroendocrine perspective.

A dramatic feature of the epidemiology of depression is the appearance of a 2:1 female excess of depression during adolescence. In childhood, rates of depression either do not differ between boys and girls or show a slight excess in boys. In this paper we review a number of lines of evidence that implicate the physical and hormonal developments of puberty in this change. We also argue that the analysis of pubertal change in the etiology of depression must take into account the fact that the causation of depression is almost certainly a complex process. In understanding such a process we suggest that developmental epidemiological studies will be of particular value.

Adolescent↗

Epstein-Barr virus antibodies in whole blood spots: a minimally invasive method for assessing an aspect of cell-mediated immunity.

OBJECTIVE: Study 1: Introduce and validate a method for measuring EBV p18-VCA antibodies in whole blood spots to provide a minimally invasive marker of cell-mediated immune function. Study 2: Apply this method to a large community-based study of psychopathology in children and adolescents. METHODS: The EBV antibody method was evaluated through analysis of precision, reliability, stability, and comparisons with plasma and indirect immunofluorescence methods. The effects of life events on p18-VCA antibody level were considered in a subsample of 9, 11, and 13 year-old children participating in the Great Smoky Mountains Study in North Carolina. The subsample was stratified by age, sex, and degree of overall life strain. RESULTS: Dried blood spots provided a convenient, sensitive, precise, and reliable method for measuring EBV p18-VCA antibody titer. Life events were positively associated with p18-VCA antibodies in girls but not in boys. CONCLUSIONS: The validity of the blood spot EBV p18-VCA antibody assay, as well as the ease of sample collection, storage, and transportation, may provide an opportunity for psychoneuroimmunology to explore a wider range of stress models in larger, community-based studies.

Adolescent↗

Managed behavioral health care: a Medicaid carve-out for youth.

This DataWatch assesses the impact of a public sector-managed Medicaid mental health carve-out pilot for North Carolina youth. Access to, volume of, and costs of mental health/substance abuse services are reported. We compared a pilot managed care program, with an incentive to shift hospital use and costs to community-based services, with usual fee-for-service Medicaid. Aggregate data from Medicaid claims for youth (from birth to age seventeen) statewide are reported for five years. We found dramatic reductions in use of inpatient care, with a shift to intensive outpatient services, and less growth in mental health costs. These findings demonstrate that public sector-managed care can be viable and more efficient than a fee-for-service model.

Adolescent↗