• Wei Sheng Goh, Jun Hao Norman Tan, Yang Luo, Sok Hui Ng, Mohamed Sufyan Bin Mohamed Sulaiman, WongJohn Chee MengJCMDepartment of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore., and Victor Weng Keong Loh.
• Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
• Singapore Med J. 2023 Apr 26.

IntroductionAdolescent depression is prevalent, and teen suicide rates are on the rise locally. A systemic review to understand associated risk and protective factors is important to strengthen measures for the prevention and early detection of adolescent depression and suicide in Singapore. This systematic review aims to identify the factors associated with adolescent depression in Singapore.MethodsA systematic search on the following databases was performed on 21 May 2020: PubMed, EMBASE and PsycINFO. Full texts were reviewed for eligibility, and the included studies were appraised for quality using the Newcastle Ottawa Scale. Narrative synthesis of the finalised articles was performed through thematic analysis.ResultsIn total, eight studies were included in this review. The four factors associated with adolescent depression identified were: (1) sociodemographic factors (gender, ethnicity); (2) psychological factors, including childhood maltreatment exposure and psychological constructs (hope, optimism); (3) coexisting chronic medical conditions (asthma); and (4) lifestyle factors (sleep inadequacy, excessive internet use and pathological gaming).ConclusionThe identified factors were largely similar to those reported in the global literature, except for sleep inadequacy along with conspicuously absent factors such as academic stress and strict parenting, which should prompt further research in these areas. Further research should focus on current and prospective interventions to improve mental health literacy, targeting sleep duration, internet use and gaming, and mitigating the risk of depression in patients with chronic disease in the primary care and community setting.

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