Parents' depression may harm children's health

When a parent suffers from depression, children are more likely to need costly health services like emergency room visits, and less likely to get preventive healthcare, according to a new study (Yahoo News). The findings bolster evidence that parents' depression can take a toll on their children's health. The effect can be seen as "one of the hidden costs of adult depression," the researchers report in the journal Pediatrics. For the study, Dr. Marion Sills and her colleagues at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver reviewed data on nearly 70,000 infants, children and teenagers enrolled in a single healthcare insurance plan. Between 1997 and 2002, they found, children with at least one parent diagnosed with depression were more likely than other children their age to have an emergency room visit, see a specialist or visit their doctor due to an illness. On the other hand, teenagers with a depressed parent were less likely to make routine visits for a check-up and preventive care. The study was not designed to answer the question of why parents' depression affected their children's healthcare, Sills told Reuters Health. She hopes these findings will spur more research into that question.