Screening of depressive symptoms in young-old hemodialysis patients: relationship between Beck Depression Inventory and 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale.
OBJECTIVE
We studied the relationship between the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) in young-old hemodialysis and hospitalized patients in order to evaluate the possible usefulness of GDS-15 in hemodialysis patients.


METHODS
Thirty-one hospitalized and 31 young-old hemodialysis patients aged 65-74 (young-old) were enrolled in the study. Comprehensive geriatric assessment (Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), BDI, GDS-15, Cumulative Illness Rating Scale (CIRS) and Activities of Daily Living (ADL)) was made for all patients. The internal consistency between BDI and GDS-15 was evaluated with Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Sensitivity, specificity and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for GDS-15 were determined using BDI as the standard.


RESULTS
In the hospitalized group, the prevalence of depressive symptoms, as evaluated by BDI (> or =14) and GDS-15 (> or =6), were 29 and 32%, respectively. In the hemodialysis group, the prevalence of depressive symptoms, as evaluated by BDI and GDS-15, were 61 and 58%, respectively. A significantly positive correlation between the BDI and GDS-15 was found in hospitalized (r = 0.808; p < 0.001), hemodialysis (r = 0.692; p < 0.001) and both patient groups together (r = 0.777; p < 0.001). The area under the ROC curve was 0.99 in the hospitalized and 0.95 in the hemodialysis groups. The ROC curves indicate a best effectiveness cutoff point (balancing sensitivity and specificity) of > or =6 for GDS-15 compared to BDI.


CONCLUSIONS
The GDS-15 could be a useful instrument for evaluating depressive symptoms in young-old hemodialysis patients.
Giordano
Mauro
M
Department of Gerontology, Geriatrics and Metabolic Diseases, Second University of Naples, Naples, Italy. mauro.giordano@unina2.it
Tirelli
Paolo
P
Ciarambino
Tiziana
T
Gambardella
Antonio
A
Ferrara
Nicola
N
Signoriello
Giuseppe
G
Paolisso
Giuseppe
G
Varricchio
Michele
M
D000368:Aged; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires