The depression would be transmitted over three generations, according to the results of a study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. Early detection of the disease in children of at-risk families seems necessary to improve treatment.
Researchers at Columbia University in the United States conducted a study that began in January 1982 and ended in June 2015. They analyzed the medical data of 251 young people, aged 18 on average. Their parents and grandparents were also questioned about their mental health.
Family history of depression is a risk factor for mental health problems
By comparing the three generations, scientists found that grandchildren who had both a depressed parent and a sick grandparent were three times more likely than others to be affected by this mental disorder. The authors also found that children who lived with a parent who was depressed, while their grandparent was not, did not have very healthy emotional lives.
If this study was carried out with a small sample of people, the conclusions should encourage health professionals to assess the risk of children in children. depression and emphasize this screening in families at risk.
“In this study, children with two previous generations with depression, were at greater risk for major depression. This study tells us the potential value of a family history for depression in children and adolescents beyond two generations. Early intervention in children of two generations affected by this pathology seems justified “concludes Myrna Weissman, of the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University.
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