Use of a smartphone application to screen for depression and suicide in South Korea

This is a cross-sectional study using a free depression and suicide screening smartphone application, which contains the data from the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) and a Suicide Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised (SBQ-R).

The free application was downloaded worldwide from Apple's App Store and Android Market, and the participants who downloaded the application were actively measured.

The subjects totaled 208,683 men and women. 72.6% of the subjects were females, and 81.4% of the subjects were aged between 10 and 29years. In total, 25.7% of the participants were recorded CES-D positive, and there were differences among the groups based on sex (χ2=1065.82, p<0.001), age (χ2=1420.75, p<0.001), and psychiatric history (χ2=1502.21, p<0.001). The highest score of CES-D, 40.69±15.79 and that of SBQ-R, 13.68±4.97 was reported by the participants with a history of schizophrenia. The characteristics associated with suicide were as follows: depression (OR 8.92, 95% CI: 8.71-9.13), female (OR 1.39, 95% CI: 1.36-1.43), 30-49 age group (OR 2.51, 95% CI: 2.29-2.72), 50 or older age group (OR 1.48, 95% CI: 1.35-1.61), and psychiatric history (OR 1.98, 95% CI: 1.89-2.06).

The smartphone application may be a useful tool for screening depression and suicide.