title: Optimising the diagnostic performance of the Geriatric Depression Scale.
abstract: The aim of this work is to empirically generate a shortened version of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), with the intention of maximising the diagnostic performance in the detection of depression compared with previously GDS validated versions, while optimizing the size of the instrument. A total of 233 individuals (128 from a Day Hospital, 105 randomly selected from the community) aged 60 or over completed the GDS and other measures. The 30 GDS items were entered in the Day Hospital sample as independent variables in a stepwise logistic regression analysis predicting diagnosis of Major Depression. A final solution of 10 items was retained, which correctly classified 97.4% of cases. The diagnostic performance of these 10 GDS items was analysed in the random sample with a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Sensitivity (100%), specificity (97.2%), positive (81.8%) and negative (100%) predictive power, and the area under the curve (0.994) were comparable with values for GDS-30 and higher compared with GDS-15, GDS-10 and GDS-5. In addition, the new scale proposed had excellent fit when testing its unidimensionality with CFA for categorical outcomes (e.g., CFI=0.99). The 10-item version of the GDS proposed here, the GDS-R, seems to retain the diagnostic performance for detecting depression in older adults of the GDS-30 items, while increasing the sensitivity and predictive values relative to other shortened versions.
authors.affiliation: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain), Facultad de Psicología, Madrid, Spain. maria.izal@uam.es
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Izal
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Montorio
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nuevo
authors.forename: Gema
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pérez-Rojo
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cabrera
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity