Frontiers in Psychiatry (Jun 2021)

The Identifying Depression Early in Adolescence Risk Stratified Cohort (IDEA-RiSCo): Rationale, Methods, and Baseline Characteristics

  • Christian Kieling,
  • Christian Kieling,
  • Claudia Buchweitz,
  • Claudia Buchweitz,
  • Arthur Caye,
  • Arthur Caye,
  • Pedro Manfro,
  • Pedro Manfro,
  • Rivka Pereira,
  • Rivka Pereira,
  • Anna Viduani,
  • Anna Viduani,
  • Maurício Anés,
  • Lucas Battel,
  • Lucas Battel,
  • Silvia Benetti,
  • Silvia Benetti,
  • Helen L. Fisher,
  • Helen L. Fisher,
  • Rakesh Karmacharya,
  • Brandon A. Kohrt,
  • Thais Martini,
  • Thais Martini,
  • Sandra Petresco,
  • Sandra Petresco,
  • Jader Piccin,
  • Jader Piccin,
  • Thiago Rocha,
  • Thiago Rocha,
  • Luis Augusto Rohde,
  • Luis Augusto Rohde,
  • Fernanda Rohrsetzer,
  • Fernanda Rohrsetzer,
  • Laila Souza,
  • Laila Souza,
  • Bruna Velazquez,
  • Bruna Velazquez,
  • Annabel Walsh,
  • Leehyun Yoon,
  • Zuzanna Zajkowska,
  • Valentina Zonca,
  • Valentina Zonca,
  • Johnna R. Swartz,
  • Valeria Mondelli,
  • Valeria Mondelli

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.697144
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12

Abstract

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Background: The characterization of adolescents at high risk for developing depression has traditionally relied on the presence or absence of single risk factors. More recently, the use of composite risk scores combining information from multiple variables has gained attention in prognostic research in the field of mental health. We previously developed a sociodemographic composite score to estimate the individual level probability of depression occurrence in adolescence, the Identifying Depression Early in Adolescence Risk Score (IDEA-RS).Objectives: In this report, we present the rationale, methods, and baseline characteristics of the Identifying Depression Early in Adolescence Risk Stratified Cohort (IDEA-RiSCo), a study designed for in-depth examination of multiple neurobiological, psychological, and environmental measures associated with the risk of developing and with the presence of depression in adolescence, with a focus on immune/inflammatory and neuroimaging markers.Methods: Using the IDEA-RS as a tool for risk stratification, we recruited a new sample of adolescents enriched for low (LR) and high (HR) depression risk, as well as a group of adolescents with a currently untreated major depressive episode (MDD). Methods for phenotypic, peripheral biological samples, and neuroimaging assessments are described, as well as baseline clinical characteristics of the IDEA-RiSCo sample.Results: A total of 7,720 adolescents aged 14–16 years were screened in public state schools in Porto Alegre, Brazil. We were able to identify individuals at low and high risk for developing depression in adolescence: in each group, 50 participants (25 boys, 25 girls) were included and successfully completed the detailed phenotypic assessment with ascertainment of risk/MDD status, blood and saliva collections, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Across a variety of measures of psychopathology and exposure to negative events, there was a clear pattern in which either the MDD group or both the HR and the MDD groups exhibited worse indicators in comparison to the LR group.Conclusion: The use of an empirically-derived composite score to stratify risk for developing depression represents a promising strategy to establish a risk-enriched cohort that will contribute to the understanding of the neurobiological correlates of risk and onset of depression in adolescence.

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