A meta-analysis of cognitive functions in children and adolescents with major depressive disorder

Abstract

The cumulative prevalence rates of major depressive disorders (MDD) in children and adolescents averages 9.5 %. The majority of adults with MDD suffer from significant cognitive deficits, but the available neuropsychological data on the cognitive performance of children and adolescents with MDD yielded mixed results. Meta-analytic methods were used to assess the severity of cognitive deficits in children and adolescents with MDD as compared to healthy children and adolescents. We identified 17 studies comparing the intelligence, executive functions, verbal memory and attention of 447 patients with DSM-IV MDD and 1,347 healthy children and adolescents. Children and adolescents with MDD performed 0.194-0.772 (p < 0.001) standard mean differences worse than healthy control subjects in neuropsychological test procedures. The most pronounced deficits of children and adolescents with MDD were seen in inhibition capacity (STD = 0.772; p = 0.002), phonemic verbal fluency (STD = 0.756; p = 0.0001), sustained attention (STD = 0.522; p = 0.000), verbal memory (STD = 0.516; p = 0.0009) and planning (STD = 0.513; p = 0.014). We revealed cognitive deficits of children and adolescents with MDD in various cognitive domains. Long-term studies should investigate how the cognitive deficits of depressed youth affect their academic and social functioning, and whether age, comorbidity and depression severity play a role in this process.

A Biopsychosocial and Long Term Perspective on Child Behavioral Problems : Impact of Risk and Resilience

“…The prevalence of anxiety conditions has been found to be close to 10 % in preschoolers, while the prevalence of depression varies between 0.5-2 % (Egger and Angold, 2006). The prevalence of depression in adolescents has been shown to be around 9.5 % (Wagner et al, 2015). A recent meta-analysis found a prevalence of ADHD just above 7 % in children (Thomas, Sanders, Doust, Beller, & Glasziou, 2015).…”

“…Likewise, internalizing problems in small children can be more difficult to detect due to the child's limited verbal skills. Internalizing problems have been associated with impaired cognitive functioning (Wagner, Müller, Helmreich, Huss, & Tadić, 2015) and suicidality (Sunderland and Slade, 2015). However, grouped together as internalizing conditions, the common conceptual and nosological basis between anxiety and depression is debated (Roza et al, 2003).…”

Borderline personality disorder in children and adolescents: discriminant validity in relation to major depressive disorder

“…A meta-analysis reviewing 17 studies of neuropsychological testing in depressed (N=447) and healthy control (N=1347) adolescents revealed that, on average, adolescents with depression had significant impairments in inhibition capacity, phonemic verbal fluency, verbal memory, planning & sustained attention in comparison to healthy control adolescents [122]. Maalouf, et al [123] compared neurocognitive performance in adolescents in an acute episode of MDD (N=20), adolescents in remission (N=20) and healthy control adolescents.…”

On electroconvulsive therapy in depression : Clinical, cognitive and neurobiological aspects

“…Studies provide evidence to suggest that depression is in fact associated with a global cognitive dysfunction affecting various cognitive domains. (Murrough et al 2011, Hasselbalch et al 2012, Lee et al 2012, Bora et al 2013, Wagner et al 2015. Cognitive deficits are related to the severity of the depressive episode and are more prevalent among patients with psychotic or melancholic features during their depressive episode (Bora et al 2013, Hasselbalch et al 2013.…”