Antidepressant treatment of caregivers of children with asthma
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Updated: Jul 1, 2026

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Published on: December 6, 2024
E Sherwood Brown1, Vanthaya Gan, Jala Jeffress
1Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390-8849, USA. Sherwood.Brown@UTSouthwestern.edu
Background:
Depression is common in caregivers of children with asthma and is associated with increased emergency service utilization for the child's asthma.
Objective:
This pilot study examined the impact of antidepressant treatment of depressed caregivers on the caregiver's depression and the child's asthma.
Method:
Eight depressed caregivers of children with asthma were given up to 6 months of algorithm-based antidepressant therapy.
Results:
Caregiver depressive symptoms and the child's asthma symptoms improved significantly.
Conclusion:
Unscheduled clinic visits showed a trend toward significant decrease. Larger trials are needed to confirm these findings and identify mechanisms linking improvement in caregiver depression with improvement in their child's asthma.
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