title: Is it useful to ask "Está deprimido?" ("Are you depressed?") to terminally-ill Portuguese patients? Results from outpatient research.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Depression is a serious psychological problem in the palliative care setting. Brief screening tools for depression are lacking and need to be brief and acceptable. This study aimed to identify the properties of the single Portuguese question "Está deprimido?" ("Are you depressed?") to screen for depression.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective study from 100 patient's medical records identifying the answers on the single Portuguese question for depression "Está deprimido?" ("Are you depressed?") and the HADS depression sub-scale, using a score ≥11 on the latter as the gold standard for clinically significant depressive symptoms. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive and negative values were calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Response rate for the single Portuguese question for depression was 100%. Prevalence of depression symptoms (HADS-d ≥ 11) was 43%. To the question "Está deprimido?" 60 patients responded "yes." Sixteen patients who replied "no" to the single question had clinically significant depressive symptoms based on the HADS depression sub-scale. The single tool had 65.2% sensitivity, 49.2% specificity and 50.0% and 64.4% of positive predictive and negative values, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this first preliminary retrospective Portuguese study, the single question for depression has shown poor screening properties. Future research in larger and mixed patientś samples of Portuguese terminally ill is necessary to find more accurate and robust properties of this brief tool.
authors.affiliation: Center of Bioethics,Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon,Lisboa,Portugal;and Center for Evidence Based Medicine,Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon,Lisboa,Portugal.
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Julião
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology,Instituto Nacional de Saúde Dr. Ricardo Jorge,Lisboa,Portugal.
authors.forename: Baltazar
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nunes
authors.affiliation: Family Medicine Trainee at USF AlphaMouro,Palliative Care MSc Student at Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon,Lisboa,Portugal.
authors.forename: Maria Ana
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Sobral
authors.affiliation: Palliative Care MSc Student at Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon,Lisboa,Portugal;and Unidade de Medicina Paliativa e de Hospitalização Domiciliária do Centro Clínico Champalimaud - Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown,Lisboa,Portugal.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dias
authors.affiliation: Palliative Care MSc Student at Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon,Lisboa,Portugal;and Unidade de Medicina Paliativa e de Hospitalização Domiciliária do Centro Clínico Champalimaud - Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown,Lisboa,Portugal.
authors.forename: Inês
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Inocêncio
authors.affiliation: Center of Bioethics,Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon,Lisboa,Portugal;and Department of Psychiatry,Hospital de Santa Maria,Lisboa,Portugal.
authors.forename: António
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barbosa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000523:psychology*; D011174:Portugal; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: Depression; Single Portuguese depression question; Terminally ill Portuguese patients