title: Screening for major depression disorders in medical inpatients with the Beck Depression Inventory for Primary Care.
abstract: To ascertain how effective the Beck Depression Inventory for Primary Care (BDI-PC) was for differentiating medical inpatients who were and were not diagnosed with DSM-IV major depression disorders (MDD), this 7-item self-report instrument composed of cognitive and affective symptoms was administered to 50 medical inpatients along with the Depression subscale (HDS) from the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (Zigmond & Snaith, 1983, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 67, 361-370). The Mood Module from the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders (Spitzer et al., 1995, Prime-MD instruction manual updated for DSM-IV) was used to diagnose MDD. The internal consistency of the BDI-PC was high (alpha = 0.86), and it was moderately correlated with the HDS (r = 0.62, P < 0.001). The BDI-PC was not significantly correlated with sex, age, ethnicity, or type of medical diagnosis. A BDI-PC cut-off score of 4 and above yielded the maximum clinical efficiency with both 82% sensitivity and specificity rates. The clinical utility of the BDI-PC for identifying medical inpatients who should be evaluated for MDD is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research, Bala Cynwyd, PA, USA.
authors.forename: A T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Beck
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Guth
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Steer
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ball
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006769:Hospitals, General / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results