Diagnosis and management of depression in children and young people: summary of updated NICE guidance

#### The bottom line Depression affects around 2.8% of children under the age of 13 and 5.6% of 13-18 year olds.1 Effective treatment is important because persistent depression is associated with serious complications, including poor school performance and social functioning,2 recurring depression in adulthood,3 and suicide.4 This article summarises recommendations from the updated National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline on depression in children and young people.5 The update had a narrow remit—only recommendations on the choice of psychological therapy and the combination of antidepressant treatment with psychological therapy were considered. NICE recommendations are based on systematic reviews of best available evidence and explicit consideration of cost effectiveness. Where the evidence was minimal, recommendations in the original guidance were based on the guideline development group’s experience and opinion of what constitutes good practice. Changes to the original recommendations were based on evidence from updated systematic reviews on clinical and cost effectiveness. Evidence levels for the recommendations are given in italic in square brackets. ### Assessment and detection