The accuracy of diagnosis of major depression in patients with Parkinson's disease: a comparative study among the UPDRS, the geriatric depression scale and the Beck depression inventory.
OBJECTIVE
Evaluate the accuracy of diagnosis of major depression in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) using the UPDRS, the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS15) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).


METHODS
50 consecutive patients with PD were evaluated. The diagnosis of major depression was made according to the DSM-IV criteria.


RESULTS
We found a 24% prevalence of major depression. All depression scales were highly correlated but UPDRS depression item had the lowest diagnostic value. The GDS15 had the more appropriate "receiver operating characteristics" curve. The best cut-off scores for screening depression were 17/18 for BDI and 8/9 for GDS15. We did not find any correlation between the level of depression and intensity of motor symptoms, functional capacity and duration of the disease.


CONCLUSIONS
GDS15 is better than the BDI and the UPDRS for screening depression in PD and depression is not related to the degree of parkinsonian symptoms.
Department of Neurology, Psychatry and Medical Psychology, Ribeirão Preto School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, Brazil. tumasv@rnp.fmrp.usp.br
Vitor
V
Tumas
Guilherme Gustavo Ricioppo
GG
Rodrigues
Tarsis Leonardo Almeida
TL
Farias
José Alexandre S
JA
Crippa
D000368:Aged; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires