THE EFFECTS OF EXTENDED EVALUATION ON DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN CHILDRENAND ADOLESCENTS

A sample of 137 child and adolescent outpatients with major depressive disorder were examined to identify baseline clinical characteristics that predicted symptom severity at the end of a 3-week evaluation peri od and to determine whether change in symptom severity between week 1 and week 2 predicted symptom severity at week three. Subjects underwen t three consecutive weekly evaluations prior to being considered for e ntry into a double-blind, placebo-controlled treatment trial of fluoxe tine. Results indicated that the combination of age, social functionin g, family history, Children's Depressive Rating Scale-Revised (CDRS-R) (Poznanski et al. (1985) Psychopharmacol. Bull, 21, 979-989) total sc ore at visit one, and percent change in symptom severity between visit one and visit two were predictors of symptom severity at visit three. These findings suggest that (1) subjects should not be excluded from randomized controlled clinical treatment trials based solely on improv ement of symptom severity between visits and (2) an extended evaluatio n period is warranted, especially for adolescents whose symptom severi ty tends to fluctuate from week to week.