Can PHQ-9 Tool Detect Depression Accurately?

PHQ-9 or the Patient Health Questionnaire is a depression tool that can accurately measure the presence and severity of the disorder.

Yes, the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) tool can detect physical and emotional symptoms of depression accurately, reveals a new study.

The COVID-19 pandemic, armed conflicts, economic dislocations and other concerns have affected mental health around the globe.

Talk Therapy Helps Reduce Depression in Dementia Patients
Psychological treatments (talk therapy) can help reduce depression and anxiety in patients with dementia.

‘Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) is a depression tool that can measure the presence and severity of the disorder accurately.’

Clinical depression, which affects 300 million individuals worldwide, is projected to increase.

PHQ-9: A Tool Used to Detect Depression

With findings that are significant for both clinicians and patients, a large international study has shown that the most commonly used clinical measurement tool for depression, the PHQ-9, provides an easy-to-interpret single score of the physical and emotional symptoms that accurately indicates the presence (or lack of) and severity of the disorder, assisting in a diagnosis.

“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 Kurt Kroenke, M.D., a co-author of the new study, the developer of the PHQ-9 and a Regenstrief Institute Research Scientist and an Indiana University School of Medicine faculty member.

Prenatal Insomnia: Digital Therapy can Prevent Postpartum Depression
Sleepio app developed helps reduce insomnia, depression and anxiety up to 6 months postpartum.

“Similarly, with depression, you need to be able to measure and monitor the presence of both physical and emotional symptoms and their severity.

“This study has shown that the free, easy-to-use PHQ-9, which can be administered in person, via telehealth or on a computer, provides a single, combined score of physical and emotional symptoms that is a good indicator of the presence and severity of depression enabling both physicians and patients to track scores and respond appropriately.”

Air Pollution Linked to Depression in Adolescents
Teenagers who live in highly polluted areas are at greater risk for experiencing depressive symptoms over time than those who live in areas with lower levels.

PHQ-9 Rating Scale

The study found the PHQ-9’s combined physical and emotional symptom score to be accurate regardless of sex, age and language of translation.

PHQ-9 scores are based on patient self-rating of physical and emotional symptoms over the past two weeks including low mood, fatigue, sleep problems, inability to concentrate, loss of appetite and lack of interest in one’s usual activities.

Depression, Anxiety Linked to C-Section Risk Among Pregnant Women: Study
New study sheds light on relationship between perinatal mood and anxiety disorders and first time cesarean delivery among pregnant women.

The PHQ-9 employs a 4-point rating scale, from 0 for “not at all” to 3 for “nearly every day.”

“By determining that the PHQ-9’s single score of physical and emotional symptoms is a good indicator of the presence and severity of depression, this study definitively shows that two scales, one for physical symptoms and one for emotional symptoms, with the ensuing need to somehow balance the two scores, are not necessary, making it easier evaluate and treat depression,” said Dr. Kroenke, a father of the growing field of symptomology.

The 58,272 study participants came from seven countries — the U.S., France, Germany, Israel, New Zealand, Spain and Switzerland — completed the PHQ-9 in English, Spanish, French, German or Hebrew.

Source-Eurekalert