Adolescent Depression Study Details

We are recruiting male and female adolescents between the ages of 13 – 20 years old who have depression.

What Is Depression?

Depression is often a combination of symptoms that interfere with a person’s everyday life, and can even prevent a person from functioning normally. Depression can interfere with going to school, sleeping, eating, and enjoying activities. Sometimes depression will occur once in a person’s life, but more often it keeps coming back throughout a person’s life.

What Is The Study?

A lot of teenagers may know what feeling sad and down feels like, but they may not know that what they are feeling could be depression. Parents may not know if it is depression, either. Doctors can diagnose depression, but sometimes people want to have an extra way of diagnosing this. Some researchers and doctors think that it is possible to diagnose depression through a blood test, testing certain things found in the blood, called biomarkers. This study aims to determine if it is possible to diagnose depression through biomarkers in the blood.

In studies of adults, using biomarkers to diagnose depression has been promising, but researchers and doctors do not know if the same biomarkers identifying depression found in adults’ blood are the same biomarkers found identifying depression in teenagers’ blood.

What Is The Name Of The Study?

Using a Biomarker Panel for Detecting Adolescent Depression

Who Can Be In The Study?

The following criteria must be met to be in the study:

• Diagnosis of depression and currently feeling depressed
• Between the ages of 13 and 20 years
• Willing to sign a permission form to be in the study. If you are younger than 18 years old, a parent or guardian must give permission for you to be in the study.

What are the benefits of being in the study?

If you are interested in being in the study, we will schedule an appointment for you to meet with our study staff. You will meet with Dr. Kondo, a child psychiatrist, and he will spend a lot of time asking you questions.

What do I have to do if I am in the study?

First, you will speak with a member of the study staff to decide if it is a good idea for you to be in the study. If you and the study staff think it is a good idea for you to be in the study, we will schedule a time for you to come in for your study visit. If you are younger than 18 years old, one of your parents needs to come with you to the visit. If you decide to be in the study, you will have your blood drawn and then Dr. Kondo will spend some time asking you questions. This will be the only study visit.

What do I do if I want to talk with someone about the study?

Feel free to email Lauren Forrest at lauren.forrest@utah.edu or call us at 801-587-1549

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