Suicide attempts among depressed adolescents in primary care.

Although depression is strongly associated with suicide attempts and suicide deaths, most depressed youth do not make an attempt, indicating the need to identify additional risk factors. We examined suicide attempts among 451 depressed primary care patients, 13 to 21 years of age. In bivariate analyses, youth classified as suicide attempters showed elevated levels of psychopathology, specifically depressive symptoms, externalizing behaviors, anxiety, substance use, mania, and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Externalizing behaviors and depression severity uniquely contributed to the prediction of suicide attempts in multivariate analyses. High levels of environmental stress as well as a few key stressful events were associated with suicide attempts; a recent romantic breakup or being assaulted added to suicide attempt risk, beyond the effects of psychopathology. Implications of results for primary care preventive services and suicide attempt prevention are discussed.

Depression and role impairment among adolescents in primary care clinics.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the association between depression and role impairment in a primary care sample, with and without controlling for the effects of general medical conditions. METHODS: Cross-sectional survey of consecutive primary care patients, ages 13-21 years (n = 3471), drawn from six sites including public health, managed care, and academic health center clinics. We assessed probable depressive disorder, depressive symptoms, and common medical problems using youth self-report on a brief screening questionnaire. Main outcome measures were two indicators of role impairment: (a) decrement in productivity/role activity, defined as not in school or working full time; and (b) low educational attainment, defined as more than 2 years behind in school or > or = 20 years of age and failed to complete high school. RESULTS: Adolescents screening positive for probable depressive disorder had elevated rates of productivity/role activity decrements (19% vs. 13%; OR 1.69; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.39-2.06; p < 0.001) and low educational attainment (20% vs. 15%; OR 1.47; 95% CI 1.21-1.78; p < 0.001). Probable depressive disorder made a unique contribution to the prediction of these impairment indicators after adjusting for the effect of having a general medical condition; controlling for depression, the presence of a general medical condition did not contribute to role impairment. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescent primary care patients screening positive for depression are at increased risk for impairment in school/work productivity and educational attainment. These findings emphasize the importance of primary care clinicians' attention to depression and role limitations.