Depression Is a Deadly Growing Threat to Our Youth: Time to Rally

In this month’s issue of Pediatrics , Mojtabai and colleagues1 sound an alarm with 2 critical public health updates; depression is significantly on the rise in adolescents, with a 12-month prevalence of 11.3% in 2014 versus 8.7% in 2005. Furthermore, despite this disturbing development, the percentage of young people with a history of past-year major depressive episodes seen by primary care providers for depression care is only ∼10% and has not appreciably budged in the past decade.The second point is disappointing because it occurs despite a 2007 American Academy of Pediatrics statement,2 which could have possibly had an impact on the comparison between 2005 and 2014. This statement strongly encouraged all pediatricians to recognize and identify the risk factors for suicide, then the third leading cause of death for adolescents 15 to 19 years old, of which depression was and remains … Address correspondence to Anne Glowinski, MD, MPE, Department of Psychiatry, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Washington University in St Louis, 4444 Forest Park Ave, St Louis, MO 63108. E-mail: glowinsa{at}wustl.edu