Test-characteristics of the GDS-15 in screening for major depression in elderly patients in general practice

Dick Bijl; Harm W.J. Van Marwijk; Herman J. Adèr; Aartjan T.F. Beekman; Marten De Haan

doi:10.1300/J018v29n01_01

Test-characteristics of the GDS-15 in screening for major depression in elderly patients in general practice

Dick Bijl^*, Harm W.J. Van Marwijk, Herman J. Adèr, Aartjan T.F. Beekman, Marten De Haan

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess whether a cut-off of five on the 15-item version of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) that was determined beforehand yielded the best sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of major depression in the elderly in primary care. A sample of 330 patients was drawn from a group of elderly patients (≥ 55 years) that participated in a clinical trial, the West-Friesland Study (WFS). The mood-module of the PRIMary care Evaluation of Mental Disorder (PRIME-MD) served as the external criterion for major depression. The results showed that using a ROC-curve the best cut-off score of the GDS-15 was five. This cut-off score gave a sensitivity of 0.79 and a specificity of 0.67 and a negative predictive value of 0.94. It is concluded that the validation in retrospect of the a priori chosen cut-off score of five in a sample of the study population supports our a priori choice.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-9
Number of pages	9
Journal	Clinical Gerontologist
Volume	29
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1300/J018v29n01_01
Publication status	Published - 2005

Access to Document

10.1300/J018v29n01_01

Cite this

@article{64fc525e9191428cbf9ed7c8893cbf2c,

title = "Test-characteristics of the GDS-15 in screening for major depression in elderly patients in general practice",

abstract = "The aim of this study was to assess whether a cut-off of five on the 15-item version of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) that was determined beforehand yielded the best sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of major depression in the elderly in primary care. A sample of 330 patients was drawn from a group of elderly patients (≥ 55 years) that participated in a clinical trial, the West-Friesland Study (WFS). The mood-module of the PRIMary care Evaluation of Mental Disorder (PRIME-MD) served as the external criterion for major depression. The results showed that using a ROC-curve the best cut-off score of the GDS-15 was five. This cut-off score gave a sensitivity of 0.79 and a specificity of 0.67 and a negative predictive value of 0.94. It is concluded that the validation in retrospect of the a priori chosen cut-off score of five in a sample of the study population supports our a priori choice.",

keywords = "Elderly, GDS-15, Major depression, Primary care, Screening, The Netherlands",

author = "Dick Bijl and {Van Marwijk}, {Harm W.J.} and Ad{\`e}r, {Herman J.} and Beekman, {Aartjan T.F.} and {De Haan}, Marten",

year = "2005",

doi = "10.1300/J018v29n01_01",

language = "English",

volume = "29",

pages = "1--9",

journal = "Clinical Gerontologist",

issn = "0731-7115",

publisher = "Routledge",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Test-characteristics of the GDS-15 in screening for major depression in elderly patients in general practice

AU - Bijl, Dick

AU - Van Marwijk, Harm W.J.

AU - Adèr, Herman J.

AU - Beekman, Aartjan T.F.

AU - De Haan, Marten

PY - 2005

Y1 - 2005

N2 - The aim of this study was to assess whether a cut-off of five on the 15-item version of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) that was determined beforehand yielded the best sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of major depression in the elderly in primary care. A sample of 330 patients was drawn from a group of elderly patients (≥ 55 years) that participated in a clinical trial, the West-Friesland Study (WFS). The mood-module of the PRIMary care Evaluation of Mental Disorder (PRIME-MD) served as the external criterion for major depression. The results showed that using a ROC-curve the best cut-off score of the GDS-15 was five. This cut-off score gave a sensitivity of 0.79 and a specificity of 0.67 and a negative predictive value of 0.94. It is concluded that the validation in retrospect of the a priori chosen cut-off score of five in a sample of the study population supports our a priori choice.

AB - The aim of this study was to assess whether a cut-off of five on the 15-item version of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) that was determined beforehand yielded the best sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of major depression in the elderly in primary care. A sample of 330 patients was drawn from a group of elderly patients (≥ 55 years) that participated in a clinical trial, the West-Friesland Study (WFS). The mood-module of the PRIMary care Evaluation of Mental Disorder (PRIME-MD) served as the external criterion for major depression. The results showed that using a ROC-curve the best cut-off score of the GDS-15 was five. This cut-off score gave a sensitivity of 0.79 and a specificity of 0.67 and a negative predictive value of 0.94. It is concluded that the validation in retrospect of the a priori chosen cut-off score of five in a sample of the study population supports our a priori choice.

KW - Elderly

KW - GDS-15

KW - Major depression

KW - Primary care

KW - Screening

KW - The Netherlands

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=28444462795&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1300/J018v29n01_01

DO - 10.1300/J018v29n01_01

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:28444462795

SN - 0731-7115

VL - 29

SP - 1

EP - 9

JO - Clinical Gerontologist

JF - Clinical Gerontologist

IS - 1

ER -

Test-characteristics of the GDS-15 in screening for major depression in elderly patients in general practice

Abstract

Access to Document

Other files and links

Cite this