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Abstract: There is an important need for non-medication interventions for depressed youth. The aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of using a standardized aerobic exercise regime to treat non-medicated clinically depressed adolescents based on adherence and completion rates, including 1) establishing effect sizes for the primary outcomes including the Chidren''s Depression Rating Scale – Revised (CDRS-R) and Actical (energy expenditure data) as well as selected secondary outcomes; (e.g., Clinical Global Improvement, depression rating scales, exercise logs, attitudes), and 2) determining whether moderate to strenuous exercise (12 kcal/kg/week [KKW]) versus a control stretching activity (<4 KKW) for 12 weeks leads to a clinically meaningful reduction in depressive symptoms and/or improved psychosocial functioning. The challenge is to develop an exercise intervention that can motivate a typically sedentary depressed adolescent to exercise on a regular basis. The goal is to demonstrate that exercise alone can provide an important and effective non-medication intervention for adolescent depression. This paper reports on the rationale and design of a pilot study which aims to inform the design of a larger trial to evaluate the efficacy of aerobic exercise to treat adolescent depression. After describing the case for exercise within the broader context of the prevalence of adolescent depression and other treatments, the paper describes the intervention and procedures for data collection. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The present investigation examined neurocognitive functioning, focusing on executive functioning (EF), in 39 children and adolescents with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and 24 healthy control subjects all ages 8 to 17 years. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition along with several measures of executive functioning including the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, Trail Making Test, Controlled Oral Word Association Test, and the Stroop Color Word Test were administered. The neurocognitive profiles for the group of depressed children and adolescents were grossly intact as most scores on intellectual and EF measures fell within the average range and did not differ from the comparison group. Mental processing speed was decreased in the MDD versus normal control group and 27% of the depressed group performed below average on the Trail Making Test. This investigation provided a good base from which to compare future literature on EF in outpatients with early-onset MDD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published nonadherence rates in the adolescent oncology population range from 33 to 60% though little is known about the psychological factors that contribute to adherence and the relationship between outcome and nonadherence. Our study was designed to investigate psychological and family factors related to adherence and the relationship between adherence and survival in this population. We evaluated 44 (27 males, 17 females) patients with cancer (13–17 years) who were at least 6-months postdiagnosis. Adherence with trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMX) was determined at one point in time, using serum assay. Twelve of the patients (27%) had no detectable TMP/SMX. Patients without detectable drug had higher levels of depression, lower self-esteem, and higher levels of parent–child incongruence. Survival rates, 6 years after the initiation of the study, were lower in the group of participants categorized as nonadherent. These findings, if confirmed, have implications for the management of nonadherence and mood in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]