Depressive symptoms are often unrecognized in gynaecological practice.
We performed a study on depressive symptoms in gynaecological practice in Belgium, identifying depressive symptoms according to both practitioners' opinions and the scores on a scale developed to detect depression in general medical settings. According to the 170 participating gynaecologists, 12% of the 2174 women they interviewed had symptoms of depression. However, 35% had two or more positive answers on the Depression Scale, and 19% had four or more positive answers. Our results suggest that depressive symptoms are often not identified in clinical gynaecological practice.
Buekens
P
P
Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, School of Public Health, Free University of Brussels, Belgium. pierre_buekens@unc.edu
van Heeringen
K
K
Boutsen
M
M
Smekens
P
P
Mattellaer
P
P
D000328:Adult; D001530:Belgium; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006176:Gynecology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010819:Physician's Role