Centre for Policy on Ageing



Screening for depression in high-risk groups — prospective cohort study in general practice
Author(s)	Kim D Baas, Karin A Wittkampf, Henk C van Weert
Journal title	British Journal of Psychiatry, vol 194, no 5, May 2009
Pages	pp 399-403
Source	http://bjp.rcpsych.org
Keywords	Depression ; General practice ; Screening ; Evaluation ; Netherlands.
Annotation	Currently, only about half of the people who have major depressive disorder are detected during regular health care. Screening in high-risk groups might be a possible solution. The authors evaluated the effectiveness of selective screening for major depressive disorder among 2005 people in three high risk groups in primary care in the Netherlands. 1687 were invited for screening, of whom 780 participated. Screening disclosed 71 with major depressive disorder, 36 already received treatment, 14 refused treatment, and 4 did not show up for an appointment. As a final result of the screening, 17 individuals (1%) started treatment for major depressive disorder. Screening for depression in high-risk populations does not seem to be effective, mainly because of the low rates of treatment initiation, even if treatment is freely and easily accessible. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-090507209 A
Classmark	ENR: L5: 3V: 4C: 76H
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