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As part of the Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) trial, a large multisite treatment study of adults with depression (see Journal Watch Psychiatry Apr 5 2006), researchers conducted an add-on study to examine how remission of maternal depression affected their children. Of 824 women in the STAR*D study, 177 (21%) had children ages 7 to 17, and 151 (85%) participated in the baseline assessment; of these women, 114 (75%) completed a 3-month assessment. One child per mother was studied.
Depression remitted in 38 mothers (33%) within 3 months. Overall, 35% of children had a current DSM-IV diagnosis at baseline. Rates of psychiatric diagnoses decreased to 24% in children of remitted mothers and increased to 43% in chi…