A free tool that combines symptom measures in a single score accurately indicates the presence and severity of depression, a new validation study finds.
The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) can be administered in person, via telehealth and on a computer. It uses a combined score of physical and emotional symptoms to assist clinicians in making a depression diagnosis.
The test was validated in more than 58,000 participants across seven countries, including the United States. Scoring was precise regardless of sex, age and language of translation, investigators reported.
Along with accuracy, an advantage of the PHQ-9 is the convenience of combining two measurements that are key to the diagnosis of depression, they said.
“You don’t treat hypertension or diabetes without measuring and monitoring a patient’s blood pressure with a blood pressure cuff or the hemoglobin the blood with an A1C test,” said test developer Kurt Kroenke, M.D., of Regenstrief Institute Research Scientist and the Indiana University School of Medicine. “Similarly, with depression, you need to be able to measure and monitor the presence of both physical and emotional symptoms and their severity.”
PHQ-9 scores are based on self-rating of these symptoms over the past two weeks. A 4-point scale rates symptoms from 0 for “not at all” to 3 for “nearly every day.”
The study was published in the journal Psychological Assessment.
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