Children at high risk of developing depression in later life could be identified using brain scans

In a study recently published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, John Gabrieli and colleagues (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA, USA) have successfully utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging to identify children at increased risk of developing depression. The findings could help to develop screening programs to identify vulnerable children before symptoms appear. The research team scanned the brains of 43 children without depression aged between 8 and 14 years old. Of these children, 27 had a family history of the condition and so were at high risk for developing later-life depression, whilst 16 had no family history of the illness. The...