Frequency, comorbidity, and psychosocial impairment of depressive disorders in adolescents

The frequency, comorbidity, and psychosocial impairment of depressive disorders among adolescents was estimated from a survey of 1,035 students aged 12 to 17 years. The adolescents were randomly selected from 36 schools in the province of Bremen, Germany. Depressive disorders and other psychiatric disorders were coded based on DSM-IV criteria using the computerized Munich version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. A high proportion of our adolescents met the lifetime criteria for depressive disorders according to DSM-IV criteria, with a rate of 17.9%. Depressive disorders were significantly higher in females than in males. The rates for all of the disorders increased with age, with the greatest increase occurring mostly between the ages of 14 and 15; such increase was more prominent in females than in males. Our results imply the importance of identifying depressive disorders in adolescence and the need for preventive and intervention strategies.