Wearables could be used to help spot childhood depression

Depression in young children could be detected by wearables - PA
Depression in young children could be detected by wearables - PA

Smart connected belts could be used to help diagnose mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression in children under six, a study has suggested.

Children could be fitted with a wearable sensor, which would take the form of a belt, to track them and monitor for unusual movements that give away signs of depression at an earlier age than was previously possible.

Despite being hard to spot, conditions including anxiety and depression are thought to affect as many as one in five young children and can be a precursor to other conditions such as severe depression in later life.

According to a study by the University of Vermont, using wearable sensors, which are connected to computer programmes equipped with artificial intelligence, to monitor children offers a "burgeoning field that promises to improve access to, and speed of, mental healthcare".

Wearables including smartwatches and similar medical devices are increasingly being used to improve diagnosis. Even consumer Apple Watch smartwatches can be used to take an electrocardiogram test, which can monitor heart activity.

But researchers now believe wearables could also be used to help spot common psychiatric conditions in children early.

"Children under the age of eight are unreliable self-reporters," the study in the journal PLOS One said. "Parental report of child problems are often inaccurate".

Young children with depression or anxiety may often not understand what is happening to them, or may be unable to tell doctors how they are feeling compared to older patients.

The researchers performed a simple psychological test. They fitted children with the smart belt, which could measure how they moved, and put them in a brief scenario where they would be surprised.

The children were led into a room where they were presented with a covered container. The facilitators then suddenly removed the blanket covering the glass container to reveal a fake, toy snake inside.

Children with disorders such as anxiety or depression were found to turn away more sharply than children without any disorder, who recovered quickly and responded to being encouraged to play with the toy snake.

"This may suggest that across depressive, anxiety and stress-related disorders, there is a shared anticipatory threat response which manifests physically in young children," the authors behind the study wrote.