A clinical and EEG sleep study in the differential diagnosis of pre-pubertal depression: state of the art.

The diagnosis of depression in childhood and adolescence remains problematic. We present an overview of the literature on the diagnosis of childhood and adolescent depression with particular reference to the potential utility of EEG sleep studies. A case of a pre-pubertal boy with depressive symptomatology is presented to illustrate some of the diagnosis difficulties and the application of EEG sleep studies in their resolution. The need for further systematic investigation of EEG sleep correlation of depression in childhood and adolescence is emphasized.