. 2021 Jan 12;10(1):24.

doi: 10.1186/s13643-020-01568-3.

Screening for depression in children and adolescents: a protocol for a systematic review update

Andrew Beck¹, John C LeBlanc², Kate Morissette³, Candyce Hamel⁴, Becky Skidmore⁴, Heather Colquhoun⁵, Eddy Lang^{6

7}, Ainsley Moore^{8

9}, John J Riva^{8

9}, Brett D Thombs^{10

11}, Scott Patten¹², Heather Bragg¹³, Ian Colman¹⁴, Gary S Goldfield¹⁵, Stuart Gordon Nicholls¹⁶, Kathleen Pajer¹⁷, Beth K Potter¹⁴, Robert Meeder¹⁸, Priya Vasa¹⁹, Brian Hutton⁴, Beverley J Shea^{4

14}, Eva Graham³, Julian Little¹⁴, David Moher^{4

14}, Adrienne Stevens⁴

Affiliations

¹ Knowledge Synthesis Group, Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Centre for Practice-Changing Research, 501 Smyth Road, Box 201, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L6, Canada. andrew.beck@uottawa.ca.
² Department of Pediatrics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
³ Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
⁴ Knowledge Synthesis Group, Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Centre for Practice-Changing Research, 501 Smyth Road, Box 201, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L6, Canada.
⁵ Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁶ University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine, Calgary, AB, Canada.
⁷ Alberta Health Services, Calgary, AB, Canada.
⁸ Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
⁹ Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University, David Braley Health Sciences Centre, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
¹⁰ Lady Davis Institute of the Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, QC, Canada.
¹¹ Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
¹² Department of Community Health Services and Department of Psychiatry, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
¹³ Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
¹⁴ School of Epidemiology and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
¹⁵ Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
¹⁶ Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
¹⁷ Department of Psychiatry, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa Faculty of Medicine, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
¹⁸ Waypoint Centre For Mental Health Care, Penetanguishene, ON, Canada.
¹⁹ Department of Family and Community Medicine, St. Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.

PMID: 33436094
PMCID: PMC7802305
DOI: 10.1186/s13643-020-01568-3

Screening for depression in children and adolescents: a protocol for a systematic review update

Andrew Beck et al. Syst Rev. 2021.

. 2021 Jan 12;10(1):24.

doi: 10.1186/s13643-020-01568-3.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Knowledge Synthesis Group, Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Centre for Practice-Changing Research, 501 Smyth Road, Box 201, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L6, Canada. andrew.beck@uottawa.ca.
² Department of Pediatrics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
³ Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
⁴ Knowledge Synthesis Group, Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Centre for Practice-Changing Research, 501 Smyth Road, Box 201, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L6, Canada.
⁵ Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁶ University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine, Calgary, AB, Canada.
⁷ Alberta Health Services, Calgary, AB, Canada.
⁸ Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
⁹ Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University, David Braley Health Sciences Centre, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
¹⁰ Lady Davis Institute of the Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, QC, Canada.
¹¹ Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
¹² Department of Community Health Services and Department of Psychiatry, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
¹³ Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
¹⁴ School of Epidemiology and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
¹⁵ Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
¹⁶ Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
¹⁷ Department of Psychiatry, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa Faculty of Medicine, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
¹⁸ Waypoint Centre For Mental Health Care, Penetanguishene, ON, Canada.
¹⁹ Department of Family and Community Medicine, St. Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.

PMID: 33436094
PMCID: PMC7802305
DOI: 10.1186/s13643-020-01568-3

Abstract

Background: Major depressive disorder is common, debilitating, and affects feelings, thoughts, mood, and behaviors. Childhood and adolescence are critical periods for the development of depression and adolescence is marked by an increased incidence of mental health disorders. This protocol outlines the planned scope and methods for a systematic review update that will evaluate the benefits and harms of screening for depression in children and adolescents.

Methods: This review will update a previously published systematic review by Roseman and colleagues. Eligible studies are randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing formal screening in primary care to identify children or adolescents not already self-reporting symptoms of, diagnosed with, or treated for depression. If no or only a single RCT is available, we will consider controlled studies without random assignment. Studies of participants with characteristics associated with an elevated risk of depression will be analyzed separately. Outcomes of interest are symptoms of depression, classification of major depressive disorder based on a validated diagnostic interview, suicidality, health-related quality of life, social function, impact on lifestyle behavior (e.g., substance use, school performance, lost time at work, or school), false-positive results, overdiagnosis, overtreatment, labeling, and other harms such as those arising from treatment. We will search MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL, the Cochrane Library, and grey literature sources. Two reviewers will independently screen the titles and abstracts using the liberal accelerated method. Full-text screening will be performed independently by two reviewers using pre-specified eligibility criteria. Data extraction and risk of bias assessments will be performed independently by two reviewers. Pre-planned analyses, including subgroup and sensitivity analyses, are detailed within this protocol. Two independent reviewers will assess and finalize through consensus the certainty of evidence using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach, and prepare GRADE evidence profiles and summary of findings tables for each outcome of interest.

Discussion: The systematic review will provide a current state of the evidence of benefits and harms of depression screening in children and adolescents. These findings will be used by the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care to inform the development of recommendations on depression screening.

Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD42020150373.

Keywords: Depression; adolescent; child; children; screening; systematic review; youth.

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Conflict of interest statement

DM is Co-Editor-in-Chief with Systematic Reviews. BH has previously received honoraria from Cornerstone Research Group for the provision of methodologic advice related to systematic reviews and meta-analysis. BDT has received grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for the evaluation of the accuracy of depression screening tools and the effects of depression screening.

Figures

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References

1. Otte C, Gold SM, Penninx BW, Pariante CM, Etkin A, Fava M, et al. Major depressive disorder. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2016;2:16065. - PubMed
1. Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). A report on mental illnesses in Canada Chapter 2: mood disorders [Internet]. 2002 [cited 2019 Apr 10]. Available from: https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/phac-aspc/migration/phac-aspc/publicat....
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Screening for depression in children and adolescents: a protocol for a systematic review update

Affiliations

Screening for depression in children and adolescents: a protocol for a systematic review update

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

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Medical