title: Psychometric evaluation of the Major Depression Inventory (MDI) as depression severity scale using the LEAD (Longitudinal Expert Assessment of All Data) as index of validity.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Major Depression Inventory (MDI) was developed to cover the universe of depressive symptoms in DSM-IV major depression as well as in ICD-10 mild, moderate, and severe depression. The objective of this study was to evaluate the standardization of the MDI as a depression severity scale using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) as index of external validity in accordance with the LEAD approach (Longitudinal Expert Assessment of All Data).
  
  
  METHODS
  We used data from two previously published studies in which the patients had a MINI Neuropsychiatric Interview verified diagnosis of DSM-IV major depression. The conventional VAS scores for no, mild, moderate, and severe depression were used for the standardization of the MDI.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The inter-correlation for the MDI with the clinician ratings (VAS, MES, HAM-D17 and HAM-D6) increased over the rating weeks in terms of Pearson coefficients. After nine weeks of therapy the coefficient ranged from 0.74 to 0.83. Using the clinician-rated VAS depression severity scale, the conventional MDI cut-off scores for no or doubtful depression, and for mild, moderate and severe depression were confirmed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Using the VAS as index of external, clinical validity, the standardization of the MDI as a measure of depression severity was accepted, with an MDI cut-off score of 21 for mild depression, 26 for moderate depression severity, and 31 for severe depression.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Martiny et al. Acta Psychiatr Scand 112:117-25, 2005: None - due to trial commencement date. Straaso et al. Acta Neuropsychiatr 26:272-9; 2014: ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT01353092 .
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric Research Unit, Psychiatric Centre North Zealand, Copenhagen University Hospital, Dyrehavevej 48, DK-3400, Hillerød, Denmark. per.bech@regionh.dk.
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bech
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric Research Unit, Psychiatric Centre North Zealand, Copenhagen University Hospital, Dyrehavevej 48, DK-3400, Hillerød, Denmark. nina.timmerby.02@regionh.dk.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Timmerby
authors.affiliation: Intensive outpatient unit for Affective Disorders (IAA), Psychiatric Centre Copenhagen, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark. Klaus.martiny@regionh.dk.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Martiny
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric Research Unit, Psychiatric Centre North Zealand, Copenhagen University Hospital, Dyrehavevej 48, DK-3400, Hillerød, Denmark. H.K.Lunde@webspeed.dk.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lunde
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric Research Unit, Psychiatric Centre North Zealand, Copenhagen University Hospital, Dyrehavevej 48, DK-3400, Hillerød, Denmark. susan.soendergaard@regionh.dk.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Soendergaard
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D038801:International Classification of Diseases; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards*; D011594:Psychometrics; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D015203:Reproducibility of Results