Scientists have devised a tool they claim can identify children at high risk of developing depression with age.
Scientists used the data of 2192 fifteen-year-old Brazilians to develop the new tool, which took into account several factors including the quality of their school performance, drug use and whether they fled their homes.
Through the data, the scientists revealed that they were able to identify young people who would suffer from severe depression when they reached the age of eighteen.
By a number of current research, the team identified 11 factors that could be combined into one group to identify those at risk. The factors included the gender of the children, their skin colors, and their relationships with their parents.
The scientists said that other ways to recognize the risk of depression depend on the family's history of illness and symptoms that may not be severe enough to indicate depression.
Dr. Valeria Mondelli, of King's College London, who co-authored the study, explained that the results represented an "important first step" in examining children and improving their mental health, noting that the team tried to "go beyond" traditional methods of identifying those at risk.
The team conducted another test of the new tool to try to predict depression cases, which included 1114 Britons 12 years old and 739 New Zealanders 15 years old, but they found that the tool was not effective in these countries.
The study's co-author, Dr. Christian Keeling of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, said the findings indicated the need to adapt the new test set to where the tool will be used.
"When developing any new risk assessment tool, it is important to consider how it works in the real world," Dr. Mondeley added, so further experiments and research are necessary to arrive at an ideal tool that can identify those at risk of developing depression.
The new tool was implemented as part of the MQ funded IDEA project.