Background: Physical disorders are commonly comorbid with depression in children attending
general medical facilities. However, the depression component is rarely recognised.
Methods: A questionnaire on sociodemographics and history of presenting medical conditions
was administered together with the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) to all 11-year-old to
17-year-old children attending at nine medical facilities.
Results: In all, 408 children were recruited from 9 health facilities. Whereas the clinicians
diagnosed a mental disorder in only 2.5% of the sample studied, 41.3% had CDI scores that
suggested mild to moderate depression. The highest proportion of children with depressive
symptomatology was found at the Kenyatta National and Teaching Referral Hospital.
Conclusion: Although prevalence rate for depression among children is high, detection rates
remain low. This finding has clinical practice and policy implications within and outside Kenya.