[The optimization of the late-life depression assessment scale and recommendations for its practical use]

The authors elaborated earlier the late-life depression assessment scale (version 1.0) which proved to be effective for the diagnosis and description of the structure and severity of depression in elderly patients. In this paper, they have improved this scale by adding corrections in the scale structure and dimensionality of assessment items. The retrospective analysis of primary symptoms assessed by the scale revealed that items with negative scores reflected the signs of the psychorganic syndrome and are not associated with the psychopathology of depression. The exclusion of these symptoms allow to shorten the scale and to use the same dimensionality to make it easier to use the scale in clinical and research practice. A trial of the new version (1.2) of the scale indicated its diagnostic effectiveness and the ability to measure correctly the depression's severity and changes in the status of elderly patients.