| |
Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
 | |
|
| Accuracy of the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) in a community sample of the oldest old | | Author(s) | Anton J M de Craen, T J Heeren, Jacobijn Gussekloo |
| Journal title | International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol 18, no 1, January 2003 |
| Pages | pp 63-66 |
| Keywords | Depression ; Evaluation ; Octogenarians ; Living in the community ; Netherlands. |
| Annotation | Cognitive impairment is common in the oldest-old. This might influence the sensitivity and specificity of the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15). 79 Dutch subjects from the Leiden 85-plus Study were administered the GDS-15 and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Within two days, the Geriatric Mental State (GMS-AGECAT) was administered to obtain a clinical diagnosis of depression. Eight subjects (10%) were diagnosed with clinical depression. At a cut-off point of 3/4, the sensitivity and specificity of the GDS-15 were 88% and 76% respectively. In the group with MMSE scores of 26 and higher, sensitivity was unaffected at all cut-off points, while specificity increased. In the group with MMSE scores below 28, sensitivity was also unaffected at all cut-off points, while specificity decreased. The GDS-15 is a suitable instrument to diagnose depression in the general population of the oldest old. However, for subjects with cognitive impairment, the accuracy should be further investigated. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-030217008 A |
| Classmark | ENR: 4C: BBM: K4: 76H |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
|
| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
| |
|