Health

Can the PHQ-9 tool detect depression accurately?


Clinical depression, which affects 300 million people worldwide, is projected to increase.

PHQ-9: A tool used to detect depression

With findings that have implications for both clinicians and patients, a large international study has shown that the most commonly used clinical measure for depression, PHQ-9, provides an easy-to-understand score of accurate physical and emotional symptoms. indicates the presence (or lack of) and severity of the disorder, supporting the diagnosis.

Kurt Kroenke, MD, co-author of the new study, developer of the PHQ-9 and a Regenstrief Institute research scientist and an instructor in the Indiana University School of Medicine.

“Similarly, with depression, you need to be able to measure and track the presence of both physical and emotional symptoms and their severity.

“This study has shown that the free, easy-to-use PHQ-9, which can be administered in person, via telehealth or on a computer, provides a single composite score of physical and emotional symptoms is a good indicator of the presence and severity of depression allowing both physicians and patients to monitor scores and respond appropriately.”

Rating Scale PHQ-9

The study found that the combined physical and emotional symptom scores of PHQ-9 were accurate regardless of gender, age, and language of translation.

The PHQ-9 score is based on a patient’s assessment of physical and emotional symptoms over the past two weeks including low mood, fatigue, trouble sleeping, inability to concentrate, loss of appetite, and disinterest in activities a person’s daily activities.

The PHQ-9 uses a 4-point rating scale, from 0 for “not at all” to 3 for “almost every day”.

“By determining that a single PHQ-9 score for physical and emotional symptoms is a good indicator of the presence and severity of depression, this study certainly indicates that two scales, one for physical symptoms and one for emotional symptoms, with further need Dr. Kroenke, father of the burgeoning field of symptomatology, says somehow balancing the two Scores are not required, making depression assessment and treatment easier.

58,272 study participants from seven countries – USA, France, Germany, Israel, New Zealand, Spain and Switzerland – completed PHQ-9 in English, Spanish, French, German or Hebrew.

Source: Eurekalert



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