People who have depression during adolescence are approximately two to three times more likely than others to experience a range of adverse outcomes during the following decade, including poor overall health, migraine headaches, psychological distress, poor social support, heavy drinking, and smoking, according to a report in the May issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health.
However, at the age of 26-27 years, they were no different from people who did not have depression during adolescence in unemployment status, personal income, marital status, or educational attainment, said Kiyuri Naicker of the department of epidemiology and community medicine, University of Ottawa, and her associates.
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Depression during adolescence may forecast problems in later life, said lead author Kiyuri Naicker.
The findings of this population-based study indicate that "the onset of depression during adolescence may forecast problems in adapting during this key transitional phase leading into adulthood. At this stage, where individuals are setting themselves up for their adult lives, the consequences may be long term and have far-reaching implications; although we might not find immediate effects on employment or relationships, an increased propensity to drink heavily, smoke, feel less healthy, and live a stressful life is likely to impact the capacity of the individual to successfully navigate work and family challenges farther down the road," the investigators reported.
They assessed a variety of health outcomes using information from the National Population Health Survey, a prospective cohort study involving a nationally representative sample of 17,276 Canadians who were aged 12 and older at baseline in 1994. For this study, Ms. Naicker and her colleagues reviewed detailed data collected every 2 years over the course of a decade for 1,027 participants who were aged 26-27 years at the most recent follow-up.
People who had depression during adolescence were 4.91 times more likely than those who did not to experience depression during follow-up and 3.74 times more likely to be taking antidepressants. They also were more likely to be experiencing psychological distress (OR, 3.02); abusing alcohol (OR, 1.78); and smoking at least once a day (OR, 2.89) in early adulthood.
Depression during adolescence also was strongly predictive of migraine headaches (OR, 2.76) during young adulthood. And compared with their nondepressed peers, those who had been depressed during adolescence were much more likely to report 10 years later that they had low levels of social support, high levels of stress, and poor overall health, the investigators said (J. Adolesc. Health 2013;52:533-8).
In contrast, adolescent depression did not correlate with later unemployment, low income, or educational attainment, and was not significantly related to marital status. These outcomes "may be more meaningfully measured in individuals in their thirties," since marriage and career milestones are frequently delayed until that time in the current economic and social environment.
This study was limited in that it included few nonwhite participants. This means that the findings might not be generalizable to other, more diverse populations, and that the researchers were not able to examine the effect of race on the outcomes they assessed.
The study was funded by the M.S.I. Foundation, a health research funding organization based in Alberta, Edmonton. No financial conflicts of interest were reported.