Screening for major depression in Asian-Americans: a comparison of the Beck and the Chinese Depression Inventory.
OBJECTIVE
This study compares the effectiveness of the Chinese version of the Beck Depression Inventory (CBDI) and the Chinese Depression Inventory (CDI) in screening for depression among Chinese Americans.


METHODS
Five hundred and three Chinese-Americans in primary care were administered the CBDI and the CDI for depression screening. The results were compared with standard semistructured interview.


RESULTS
With empirically determined cutoff scores of the CBDI (> or =13) and the CDI (>/=16), both instruments have good sensitivity (0.78) and excellent specificity (0.91 and 0.93, respectively). The correlation between the total scores of the two instruments was high (0.785, P < 0.01). The areas under the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve of the CBDI and the CDI were 0.94 and 0.95, respectively, and were not significantly different.


CONCLUSIONS
When administered by interviewers, the CBDI and the CDI have comparable effectiveness. Low participation among Chinese-Americans with self-report measures limits both scales as efficient depression screening instruments.
Yeung
A
A
Depression Clinical and Research Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. ayeung@partners.org
Neault
N
N
Sonawalla
S
S
Howarth
S
S
Fava
M
M
Nierenberg
A A
AA
D001213:Asian / Q000523:psychology*; D001900:Boston / Q000453:epidemiology; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales