Diagnostic utility of the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS-C16 and QIDS-SR16) in the elderly.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate psychometric properties and comparability ability of the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) vs. the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology-Clinician-rated (QIDS-C(16)) and Self-report (QIDS-SR(16)) scales to detect a current major depressive episode in the elderly.


METHODS
Community and clinic subjects (age >or=60 years) were administered the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) for DSM-IV and three depression scales randomly. Statistics included classical test and Samejima item response theories, factor analyzes, and receiver operating characteristic methods.


RESULTS
In 229 elderly patients (mean age = 73 years, 39% male, 54% current depression), all three scales were unidimensional and with nearly equal Cronbach alpha reliability (0.85-0.89). Each scale discriminated persons with major depression from the non-depressed, but the QIDS-C(16) was slightly more accurate.


CONCLUSIONS
All three tests are valid for detecting geriatric major depression with the QIDS-C(16) being slightly better. Self-rated QIDS-SR(16) is recommended as a screening tool as it is least expensive and least time consuming.
Doraiswamy
P Murali
PM
Department of Psychiatry, and The Center for the Study of Aging, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA. dorai001@mc.duke.edu
Bernstein
I H
IH
Rush
A J
AJ
Kyutoku
Y
Y
Carmody
T J
TJ
Macleod
L
L
Venkatraman
S
S
Burks
M
M
Stegman
D
D
Witte
B
B
Trivedi
M H
MH
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results