Results from a 20-year US study show that children of depressed parents are at higher-risk for psychiatric and medical problems, according to an article in the June issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry.

The long-term study of 151 children, which demonstrates that the generational effect of depression continues into adulthood, was conducted by researchers at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute led by Myrna M. Weissman, PhD, and Daniel Pilowsky, MD.

The risks for anxiety disorders and major depression were approximately three times as high in children with at least one depressed parent, and their rate of phobias was four times as high.

Children with at least one depressed parent also had higher rates of substance dependence and self-reported physical illness in mid-adulthood than children of non-depressed parents. Around the age of 35 years, children of depressed parents reported higher incidence of cardiovascular disorders (five times as likely) and neuromuscular disorders (twice as likely) than those of non-depressed parents.

“This work highlights the significant life-long risk faced by children of a depressed parent. Efforts to improve treatment of depressed parents may thus have potential benefits that reach the next generation,” said Robert Freedman, MD, editor-in-chief of the journal.

Major depressive disorder appeared between the ages of 15 and 20 years and there was a slight increase in new anxiety disorders among women between ages 28 and 32. By adulthood, children of depressed parents functioned more poorly at work and in their extended families. Although 83 percent had experienced psychiatric disorders during their lifetimes, only 38 percent had received treatment for a mental illness.