Impact of Depression on Anxiety, Well-being, and Suicidality in Mexican Adolescent and Young Adult Students From Mexico City: A Mental Health Screening Using Smartphones.

Background: Depression, anxiety, well-being, and suicidality are highly associated during adolescence and greatly predict mental health outcomes during adulthood. This study explored relationships between these variables among students from Mexico City.Methods: This representative cross-sectional study was carried out in education centers in Mexico City during the 2019-2020 academic year. Using a smartphone app, we implemented validated questionnaires for depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9), anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7), well-being (World Health Organization 5 Well-Being Index), and risk of suicide (Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale). Partial least squares structural equation modeling was performed for the entire sample and after stratifying by gender.Results: Out of 3,042 students, 1,686 were females; mean age of the sample was 17.3 years. Compared to males, females had higher levels of anxiety, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation and lower levels of self-perceived well-being. Structural equation models indicated that depression was the main predictor of the rest of the outcomes in the overall sample. The role of anxiety was heterogeneous across genders and not clearly correlated to suicidal behavior or well-being.Conclusions: Large-scale mental health screening using an online tool proved feasible, with high response rates. Depression was the most important factor influencing anxiety, suicidal behavior, and well-being in Mexican high school students. The roles of depression and anxiety were heterogeneous across genders.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04067076.

Universal mental health screening with a focus on suicidal behaviour using smartphones in a Mexican rural community: protocol for the SMART-SCREEN population-based survey.

INTRODUCTION: Mental disorders represent the second cause of years lived with disability worldwide. Suicide mortality has been targeted as a key public health concern by the WHO. Smartphone technology provides a huge potential to develop massive and fast surveys. Given the vast cultural diversity of Mexico and its abrupt orography, smartphone-based resources are invaluable in order to adequately manage resources, services and preventive measures in the population. The objective of this study is to conduct a universal suicide risk screening in a rural area of Mexico, measuring also other mental health outcomes such as depression, anxiety and alcohol and substance use disorders. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A population-based cross-sectional study with a temporary sampling space of 9 months will be performed between September 2019 and June 2020. We expect to recruit a large percentage of the target population (at least 70%) in a short-term survey of Milpa Alta Delegation, which accounts for 137 927 inhabitants in a territorial extension of 288 km2.They will be recruited via an institutional call and a massive public campaign to fill in an online questionnaire through mobile-assisted or computer-assisted web app. This questionnaire will include data on general health, validated questionnaires including Well-being Index 5, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale 2, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, selected questions of the Drug Abuse Screening Test and Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scales and Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5) questions about self-harm.We will take into account information regarding time to mobile app response and geo-spatial location, and aggregated data on social, demographical and environmental variables. Traditional regression modelling, multilevel mixed methods and data-driven machine learning approaches will be used to test hypotheses regarding suicide risk factors at the individual and the population level. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval (002/2019) was granted by the Ethics Review Board of the Hospital Psiquiátrico Yucatán, Yucatán (Mexico). This protocol has been registered in ClinicalTrials.gov. The starting date of the study is 3 September 2019. Results will serve for the planning and healthcare of groups with greater mental health needs and will be disseminated via publications in peer-reviewed journal and presented at relevant mental health conferences. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04067063.