title: Is the geriatric depression scale a reliable screening tool for depressive symptoms in elderly patients with cognitive impairment?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the reliability of the 30-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-30) for the screening of depressive symptoms in dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) using the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD) as the 'gold standard'.
  
  
  METHODS
  Diagnosed according to strictly applied clinical diagnostic criteria, patients with MCI (n = 156) and probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) (n = 247) were included. GDS-30, CSDD, Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Global Deterioration Scale were assessed in all patients at inclusion. The AD group was divided in three subgroups: mild AD (MMSE>or=18) (n = 117), moderate AD (MMSE< 18 and >or=10) (n = 89) and severe AD (MMSE<10) (n = 38).
  
  
  RESULTS
  In MCI patients, moderate but highly significant correlations were found between GDS-30 and CSDD scores (Pearson: r = 0.565; p < 0.001). In mildly (r = 0.294; p = 0.001), moderately (r = 0.273; p = 0.010) and severely (r = 0.348; p = 0.032) affected AD patients, only weak correlations between GDS-30 and CSDD scores were calculated. ROC curve analysis showed that sensitivity and specificity values of respectively 95% and 67% were achieved when a GDS-30 cut-off score of 8 was applied in MCI patients. In AD patients, too low sensitivity and specificity values did not allow selecting an optimal cut-off score by means of ROC curve analysis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Using the CSDD as 'gold standard', we demonstrated that the GDS-30 is a reliable screening tool for depressive symptoms in MCI but not in AD patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Memory Clinic, Middelheim General Hospital, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Debruyne
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Van Buggenhout
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Le Bastard
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aries
authors.forename: Kurt
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Audenaert
authors.forename: Peter Paul
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: De Deyn
authors.forename: Sebastiaan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Engelborghs
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015897:Comorbidity; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D054928:Validation Studies as Topic