Diagnosis
Adding a question that asks whether help is wanted improves sensitivity of a depression screening tool
Arroll B, Goodyear-Smith F, Kerse N, et al. Effect of the addition of a "help" question to two screening questions on specificity for diagnosis of depression in general practice: diagnostic validity study. BMJ 2005;331:884–6A.
Q Does adding a question asking whether help is needed to a two-question screening tool assist doctors to diagnose people with depression?
Key Words: depression • diagnosis
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Design:
Prospective cohort study.
Setting:
Six general practice clinic waiting rooms, New Zealand.
Patients:
1025 consecutive people waiting to see a doctor for no pre-specified clinical reason. Exclusion: people using psychotropic medication.
Test:
The screening tool consisted of three questions; two developed from the Prime MD-questionnaire which asked "During the past month have you often been bothered by feeling down, depressed or hopeless?" and "During the past month have you often been bothered by little interest or pleasure in doing things?" An additional question was added asking "Is this something with which you would like help?" to which there were three possible responses; "No", "Yes", and "Yes but not today."
Diagnostic standard:
Mood module of Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) for diagnosing depression.
Outcomes:
Diagnosis of depression; sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios of screening questions; sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios of doctor’s diagnosis after seeing the written response to the
University of Heidelberg, School of Medicine, Department of
Psychosomatic and General Internal Medicine, Heidelberg, Germany
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