Depression in young adulthood is “an important consequence” of childhood abuse and neglect, a study indicates. For many abused or neglected children, depression sets in during childhood.

“Given that neglected children represent the majority of cases in the child protection system, these findings have major implications for policy and practice and reinforce the need for early detection and treatment of maltreated children,” study chief Dr. Cathy Spatz Widom told Reuters Health.

Widom, from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, and her colleagues followed 676 subjects with documented childhood abuse (physical or sexual) or neglect until around the age of 29. They did the same for a comparison group of 520 individuals who did not have histories of abuse and neglect.

The investigators report in the Archives of General Psychiatry that childhood abuse and neglect were associated with a 51 percent increased risk of “current” depression in young adulthood.

Children who suffered physical abuse had a 59 percent increased risk for becoming depressed at some point in their lives, and those who suffered multiple types of abuse had a 75 percent increased risk of “lifetime” depression.

Children who were sexually abused did not show an increased risk for depression, although they did show significantly more symptoms of depression symptoms than did non-abused controls. It’s possible, the authors note, that the absence of ties between sexual abuse and depression may reflect the relatively small number of sexual abuse cases included in the study.

The researchers also found that children who suffered abuse or neglect developed depression at a much earlier age than non-abused controls.

“These results are important because they show that neglected children and physically abused children are at increased risk for depression, something that is not often considered,” Widom said.

SOURCE: Archives of General Psychiatry January 2007.