Prevalence of affective disorders in children and adolescents: findings from the Zurich Epidemiological Studies.
OBJECTIVE
Affective disorders were studied in two epidemiological studies of children and adolescents in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland.


METHODS
In the Zurich Epidemiological Study of Child and Adolescent Psychopathology Study (ZESCAP) in 1994 a representative cohort of 1964 pupils aged 7-16 years was studied. The Zurich Adolescent Psychology and Psychopathology Study (ZAPPS) included 1089 adolescents aged 15-19 years who were assessed in 1997. A two-stage approach with questionnaire screening of the entire sample in stage 1 and consecutive interviews in stage 2 was used in both studies. Diagnoses according to DSM-III-R were derived from structured parent interviews in the ZESCAP and from both parent and adolescent interviews in the ZAPPS.


RESULTS
The total prevalence rate for affective disorders in the ZESCAP was 0.66% (SE 0.25) whereas it was 5.1% based on adolescent interviews and 1.2% based on parent interviews in the ZAPPS. Adolescent girls have significantly higher prevalence rates for affective disorders than boys (9.4 vs. 1.1%).


CONCLUSIONS
These findings are in accordance with various other international epidemiological studies on affective disorders in children and adolescents.
Steinhausen
H-C
HC
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Winkler Metzke
C
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology