Predicting the risk of young people developing anxiety and depression

The number of adolescents experiencing anxiety and depression is increasing. We need to find better ways to identify people at high risk of developing anxiety and depression so they can be offered help. If we can offer help to high-risk individuals early on in childhood, this could prevent symptoms getting worse or lessen the impact on their lives. We also need to better understand what causes anxiety and depression and what puts people at high risk, so we can develop new ways to prevent and treat it.

Project aims

The aims of this project are:

• To look at how anxiety and depression develop in childhood and identify long-term patterns over childhood and adolescence
• To investigate how problems with the immune system can put people at risk of developing anxiety and depression in childhood, adolescence and early adulthood
• To review previous studies that have explored ways to predict who will experience persistent anxiety and depression
• To develop a risk calculator which can predict risk of depression and anxiety in childhood and adolescence, to use in a community setting
• To test whether the risk calculator can accurately predict risk of depression and anxiety in different UK populations

This research will use information already gathered as part of three UK studies: Born in Bradford (BiB), the Avon Longitudinal study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) and the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS).

What we hope to achieve

This project will develop and test a risk calculation tool to predict anxiety and depression in childhood and adolescence.

Community settings need a tool that can predict adolescent depression and anxiety using information accessible to them. But can such a tool accurately predict future risk of anxiety and depression? This project aims to answer this question. If successful, the tool could be adopted in clinics or community settings, for example GP practices.