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Association Between Sleep Quality and Cognitive Symptoms in Patients with Major Depressive Disorder

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Screening for depression.

Douglas M Maurer¹

¹Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center, Fort Hood, TX 46548, USA. douglas.maurer@us.army.mil

American Family Physician

|February 17, 2012

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Screening for depression in adults and adolescents is recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Commonly used tools like the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-2 and PHQ-9 aid in accurate diagnosis and effective treatment.

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Area of Science:

Public Health
Clinical Medicine
Psychiatry

Background:

Depression affects up to 9% of U.S. patients, costing over $43 billion annually.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends depression screening for adolescents and adults.
Screening is advised only in practices with established diagnostic, treatment, and follow-up systems.

Purpose of the Study:

To outline recommendations for depression screening in clinical practice.
To detail validated screening tools and their performance metrics.
To emphasize the need for confirmatory diagnosis following positive screening results.

Main Methods:

Review of USPSTF guidelines on depression screening.
Analysis of the performance characteristics (sensitivity and specificity) of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-2 and PHQ-9 in adults.
Identification of appropriate follow-up screening tools for specific populations (e.g., Geriatric Depression Scale for older adults).

Main Results:

The PHQ-2 demonstrates 97% sensitivity and 67% specificity in adults.
The PHQ-9 shows 61% sensitivity and 94% specificity in adults.
Positive PHQ-2 results warrant PHQ-9 administration; the Geriatric Depression Scale is suitable for older adults.

Conclusions:

The USPSTF recommends depression screening for adolescents and adults when adequate follow-up care is available.
Validated tools like PHQ-2 and PHQ-9 are crucial for initial screening.
Positive screening necessitates further evaluation to meet Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria for diagnosis.