Physically abused and neglected children are much more likely to grow into severely depressed adults, a finding that researchers said points to an urgent need to test abused children for depression early on.

Physically abused children have a 59 percent increased risk of lifetime major depression compared with similar children who were not abused, said the study in this month's issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Earlier studies had linked childhood abuse with serious depression but researchers said this study is the first to show that depression is a consequence of the abuse.

"These results underscore the need to detect and treat the long-term psychological (effects) of childhood neglect," wrote lead researcher Cathy Spatz Widom, who was with the New Jersey Medical School in Newark when she worked on the study.

Researchers compared about 680 children who were abused and neglected before the age of 11 with 520 children of similar age, race, sex, and social status. Both groups were followed into young adulthood, up to an average age of 29.

Children who were physically abused, neglected or both had as much as a 75 percent higher risk of suffering major depression as adults.

"In addition, these findings reveal that onset of depression began in childhood for many of the children," the report said.