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Evidence summaries

Prevention of Relapse and Recurrence of a Depressive Disorder in Children and Adolescents

Antidepressant medication appears to reduce the rate of depression recurrence in children and adolescents. Level of evidence: "B"

The quality of evidence is downgraded by study limitations (selective reporting).

Summary

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 9 studies with a total of 882 subjects. The patients were children and adolescents with depression. The interventions included psychological, social and pharmacological interventions and the outcome of interest was the recurrence of depressive disorders. All trials were performed in outpatient settings.

Antidepressant medication reduced the depression recurrence rate by one third compared to placebo treatment. One trial that compared a combination of psychological therapy and medication to medication alone favored a combination approach over medication alone, however this result did not reach statistical significance (OR 0.26; 95% CI 0.06 to 1.15).

OutcomeNumber of participants (trials)Antidepressant medicationIntervention:PlaceboEffect size (95% CI)
Depression recurrence164(3)41%67%OR 0.34 (0.18 to 0.64)
Suicidalbehavior164(3)12/100013/1000OR 1.02(0.14 to 7.39)

Clinical comments

Note

Date of latest search: 2011-08-11

References

  • Cox GR, Fisher CA, De Silva S et al. Interventions for preventing relapse and recurrence of a depressive disorder in children and adolescents. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2012;11():CD007504. [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords