BMJ  2005;331 (15 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7521.0-e

One question improves diagnosing depression in primary care

Adding a question (about whether the patient wants immediate help with depressive symptoms) to two screening questions for depression in general practice improves the specificity of the screening. Arroll and colleagues (p 884) report on a cross sectional diagnostic validity study that included 19 general practitioners and more than 1000 consecutive patients in six clinics in New Zealand. Using the two screening questions and the additional help question, general practitioners correctly diagnosed 79% of people with major depression and correctly assessed 94% of those without major depression.

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Relevant Article

Effect of the addition of a "help" question to two screening questions on specificity for diagnosis of depression in general practice: diagnostic validity study

B Arroll, F Goodyear-Smith, N Kerse, T Fishman, and J Gunn
BMJ 2005 331: 884. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]