Peer-reviewed article

Clinical correlates of childhood- and adolescent-onset depression in a Mexican pediatric psychiatric cohort.

Lina Díaz-Castro, Kurt L Hoffman, María E Márquez-Caraveo, Germán Guerra, Lino Palacios-Crúz et al. · 21 Jul 2026

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Child and adolescent depression are a public health issue worldwide. In Mexico, depressive disorders affect more than 16% of this population. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to identify factors associated with the earliest age at which emotional and behavioral disturbances were evident in child and adolescent with depression. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective observational study of children and adolescents receiving care at two specialized psychiatric hospitals in Mexico between January 2018 and February 2020. Clinical data were collected through structured surveys, and diagnoses were established by board-certified child psychiatrists according to ICD-10. Cox proportional hazard and logistic regression models identified factors associated with earlier onset of depressive symptoms. RESULTS: A total of 400 participants were included (mean age 12.23 years, SD 3.71; 148 girls [37%] and 252 boys [63%]). The most frequent diagnoses were hyperkinetic disorders (51%), depressive disorders (33.8%), and anxiety disorders (7.8%). Depression and anxiety were more common in girls, whereas boys showed earlier symptom onset and were more frequently diagnosed with hyperkinetic disorders. Based on the visual inspection of symptom onset distribution, age 10 was considered the cutoff between childhood- and adolescent-onset depression. Childhood-onset depression was associated with male sex, comorbid hyperkinetic or anxiety disorders, and family history of psychiatric illness. In Cox models, male sex (HR = 1.84), comorbid hyperkinetic disorder (HR = 2.17), familial antecedent of depression (HR = 1.81) and familial antecedent of hyperkinetic disorder (HR = 2.13) predicted earlier onset. CONCLUSIONS: Earlier-onset depression was associated with male sex, psychiatric family history, and comorbid hyperkinetic disorder, supporting differences between childhood- and adolescent-onset depression.