Validating a single-question depression measure among older adults.

Int Psychogeriatr

Department of Public Health Science, Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Published: January 2018

AI Article Synopsis

  • - The study investigates the effectiveness of a single-item depression measure compared to two more comprehensive scales (CESD and GDS) to assess depression in elderly individuals aged 60 to 89 in Seoul.
  • - Results reveal that the single-item measure significantly underreports depression prevalence (5.5%) compared to CESD (12.3%) and GDS (12.1%), with low sensitivity rates of only 30.6% and 36.1%.
  • - The findings indicate that the single-question measure may not accurately reflect the mental health of older adults, especially among those with lower educational backgrounds, suggesting it should be used cautiously.

Article Abstract

Background: A single-item depression measure may not be adequate in capturing the complex entity of mental health, despite wide use of this indicator in community studies. This study evaluated the accuracy of a single-question depression measure in comparison to two composite indices-the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD) and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS).

Materials And Methods: A total of 800 elderly participants ranging from 60 to 89 years of age and residing in Seoul were recruited using a multistage sampling scheme in 2015. The survey was conducted by trained interviewers with a constructed questionnaire. Reliability and validity measures such as the Kappa index, sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and AUC were used to evaluate the accuracy of the single question measure. Socio-demographic group differences in accuracy were compared by age, sex, marital status, education, employment, and financial status.

Results: The prevalence of depression by a single-question measure was much lower than those of CESD and GDS (5.5%, 12.3%, and 12.1%, respectively). The sensitivity of the single-item measure, based on CESD and GDS, was extremely low at 30.6% and 36.1%. In the subgroup analysis, however, there was a marked educational discrepancy in all accuracy measures; in sensitivity, people with a university degree or higher showed about 2.4 times higher sensitivity than those having only a primary school education.

Conclusions: The results show that a single-question depression measure should be used with caution. In addition, the single-question measure could substantially underestimate depression among the risk group of older adults.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1041610217001673DOI Listing

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