OBJECTIVE: To Investigate the presence of depressive disease in children with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) and end stage of renal disease (ESRD). METHOD: A case series study including 52 children suffering of ALL or ESRD aged 8 to 15 years. RESULTS: Three patients (5.8%) had major depressive episode (MDE), two of them with ESRD and one with ALL. Eight patients (15.4%) had dysthymic disorder (DD), all of them had ESRD. The association between age and MDE was not meaningful. On other hand, the association between age and DD was significant, and all of the patients aged between 12 and 15 years. The association between depressive diseases and evolution time of base disease was not significant. However, it was observed that the bigger the time of base disease evolution, the bigger the association with DD. CONCLUSION: The frequency of MED was not different from the literature, but the frequency of DD was higher. In opposition to what was expected, there wasn't difference between the ages in MED. However, in agreement with the literature, it prevailed the highest ages in DD.
Depression; depressives symptoms; acute lymphocytic leukemia; end stage of renal disease
