Depression in scholars and adolescents carriers of acute leukemia during the treatment phase

Objective: To describe depression levels in school aged children and adolescents with acute leukemia during the treatment. Materials and methods: This transversal descriptive study took place during January to September 2012 and included school aged children and adolescents, carriers of acute leukemia, in treatment at a high-ranking specialty hospital. A modified Kovacs questionnaire (CDI) was applied. They were grouped according to presence or absence of depression. Inferential statistics with c2 and Statistical package SPSS 20.0 were used. Results: Forty-six patients were included in the study: with depression n = 43 (94%), without depression n = 3 (6%), males n = 32 (70%) and females n = 14 (30%), average age 8 years old (7-15). Acute lymphoblast leukemia was the most frequent n=42 patients (91%). Depression was found in 42 patients (91%), with nine presenting a minor level (21%), 11 a moderate level (26%), and 23 a severe level (53%). Mostly during the consolidation phase, 30 patients (70%) patients with no relapses showed a higher incidence of depression, 23 (54%) vs. with relapses 20 (47%) (p = 0.870); the majority had no family history of depression 41 (95%) vs. 2 (5%) (p = 0.017). Conclusions: We found a high percentage of severe level depression, which affected mostly male patients, suffering a relapse during the consolidation treatment phase. (Gac Med Mex. 2015;151:174-8) Corresponding author: Juan Carlos Barrera de León, [email protected]