title: Screening inventories to detect depression in chronic hepatitis C patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To settle the best cutoffs for inventories to diagnose depression in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-five CHC patients were assessed using a standard psychiatric interview (Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview) to establish Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) major depression diagnosis and the following inventories: the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), its short form for Primary Care (BDI-PC) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Subscale for Depression (HAD-D). According to the receiver operative characteristic (ROC) curve, the best cutoff to screen for depression was settled, and sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were calculated. Agreement between each inventory and the diagnosis of depression was calculated through Cohen's Kappa. Internal consistency was measured through Cronbach's alpha.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-one (28%) individuals met criteria for a depressive disorder. BDI, BDI-PC and HAD-D best scores were settled at 18, 5 and 8 points, respectively. They showed the following discriminative properties: sensitivity 81%, 76.2%, 85.7%; specificity 92.6%, 88.9%, 77.8%; positive predictive value 81%, 72.7%, 60%; negative predictive value 92.6%, 90.6%, 93.3%, respectively. ROC curve areas were similar between BDI and BDI-PC, but slightly lower for HAD-D. The agreement between inventories and DSM-IV depression diagnosis was substantial for BDI (0.91) and BDI-PC (0.91) and moderate for HAD-D (0.86). Internal consistency was 0.90, 0.86 and 0.75, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  BDI, BDI-PC and HAD-D showed good discriminative properties to screen for depression in CHC patients and should be considered in clinical practice.
authors: Neuropsychiatry Group, Neurology Division, University Hospital, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, 30130-100 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. brunofabregas@yahoo.com.br
authors: Bruno Cópio
authors: BC
authors: Fábregas
authors: Flávia Domingues
authors: FD
authors: Vitorino
authors: Débora Millard
authors: DM
authors: Rocha
authors: Alexandre Sampaio
authors: AS
authors: Moura
authors: Ricardo Andrade
authors: RA
authors: Carmo
authors: Antônio Lúcio
authors: AL
authors: Teixeira
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil; D015897:Comorbidity; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D008485:Medical Audit; D008875:Middle Aged