General Hospital Psychiatry
Volume 26, Issue 5 , Pages 384-389, September 2004

A prospective study to compare three depression screening tools in patients who are terminally ill

  • Mari Lloyd-Williams, MD,FRCP, MRCGP, MMedSci

      Affiliations

    • Department of Primary Care, University of Liverpool Medical School, Harrison Hughes Building, Liverpool L69 3GB, UK
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +44-151-794-5655; fax: +44-151-794-4907.
    • ,
  • Mick Dennis, MRCPsych,MD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry, University of Leicester, Leicester General Hospital, Leicester LE5 4PW, UK
    • ,
  • Fiona Taylor, BSc

      Affiliations

    • LOROS Hospice, Groby Road, Leicester LE3 9QE, UK

Received 21 November 2003; accepted 6 April 2004.

Abstract 

Depression is a significant symptom for approximately one in four palliative care patients. This study investigates the performance of three screening tools. Patients were asked to verbally rate their mood on a scale of 0–10; to respond “yes” or “no” to the question “Are you depressed?,” and to complete the Edinburgh depression scale. They were also interviewed using a semi-structured clinical interview according to DSM-IV criteria. Complete data was available for 74 patients. For the single question, a “yes” answer had a sensitivity of 55% and specificity 74%. The Edinburgh depression scale at a cut-off point of ≥13 had a sensitivity of 70% and specificity of 80%. The verbal mood item with a cut-off point of ≥3 had a sensitivity of 80% and specificity of 43%. The Edinburgh depression scale proved to be the most reliable instrument for detecting clinical depression in palliative care patients.

Keywords:  Depression, Palliative care, Screening, Terminal illness

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PII: S0163-8343(04)00059-3

doi:10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2004.04.002

General Hospital Psychiatry
Volume 26, Issue 5 , Pages 384-389, September 2004

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