Getting your player ready...
CHICAGO — An influential government-appointed medical panel is urging doctors to routinely screen all American teens for depression — a step that acknowledges that nearly 2 million teens are affected by this debilitating condition.
Most are undiagnosed and untreated, said the panel, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which sets guidelines for doctors on health issues.
Recommendations from the task force, a panel of experts convened by the federal government, appear in April’s issue of the journal Pediatrics.
Because depression is so common, “you will miss a lot if you only screen high-risk groups,” said Dr. Ned Calonge, task-force chairman and chief medical officer for Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment.
