title: Use of the Beck Depression Inventory for Primary Care to screen for major depression disorders.
abstract: To ascertain how effective the Beck Depression Inventory for Primary Care (BDI-PC) was in screening for DSM-IV major depression disorders (MDD) in outpatients who were scheduled for routine office visits with physicians specializing in internal medicine, the BDI-PC was administered to 60 male and 60 female outpatients. The internal consistency of the BDI-PC was high (alpha 0.85), and the Mood Module from the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders was used to diagnose MDD. The BDI-PC scores were not significantly correlated with sex, age, ethnicity, or total number of medical diagnoses. A BDI-PC cutoff score of 4 and above yielded 98% maximum clinical efficiency with 97% (95% CI 82%-99%) sensitivity and 99% (95% CI 94%-99%) specificity rates, respectively, for identifying patients with and without MDD. The BDI-PC is discussed as an effective case-finding instrument for screening primary care patients for MDD.
authors.affiliation: University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, School of Osteopathic Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Stratford, New Jersey 08084-1350, USA.
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Steer
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Cavalieri
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Leonard
authors.forename: A T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Beck
mesh_terms: D001499:Bayes Theorem; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D003955:Diagnostic Tests, Routine / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009515:New Jersey / Q000453:epidemiology; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000592:standards*; D012372:ROC Curve; D012016:Reference Values; D018401:Sample Size; D012494:Sampling Studies