Background Screening questionnaires are not sufficient to improve diagnostic quality of depression in primary care. The additional consideration of the general practitioner’s (GP’s) assessment could improve the accuracy of depression diagnosis. The aim of this study was to examine whether the GP rating supports a reliable depression diagnosis indicated by the PHQ-9 over a period of three months. Methods We performed a secondary data analysis from a previous study. PHQ-9 scores of primary care patients were collected at the time of recruitment (t1) and during a follow-up 3 months later (t2). At t1 GPs independently made a subjective assessment whether they considered the patient depressive (yes/no). Two corresponding groups with concordant and discordant PHQ-9 and GP ratings at t1 were defined. Reliability of the PHQ-9 results at t1 and t2 was assessed within these groups and within the entire sample by Cohen’s Kappa, Pearson’s correlation coefficient and Bland-Altman plots. Results 364 consecutive patients from 12 practices in the region of Upper Bavaria/Germany participated in this longitudinal study. 279 patients (76.6%) sent back the questionnaire at t2. Concordance of GP rating and PHQ-9 at t1 led to higher replicability of PHQ-9 results between t1 and t2. The reliability of PHQ-9 was higher in the concordant subgroup (κ = 0.507) compared to the discordant subgroup (κ = 0.211) (p = 0.064). The Bland-Altman Plot showed that the deviation of PHQ-9 scores at t1 and t2 decreased by about 15% in the concordant subgroup. Pearson’s correlation coefficient between PHQ-9 scores at t1 and t2 increased significantly if the GP rating was concordant with the PHQ-9 at t1 (r = 0.671) compared to the discordant subgroup (r = 0.462) (p = 0.044). Conclusions The combination of PHQ-9 and GP rating might improve diagnostic decision making regarding depression in general practices. PHQ-9 positive results might be more reliable and accurate, when a concordant GP rating is considered.
Background The interdisciplinary research training group (POKAL) aims to improve care for patients with depression and multimorbidity in primary care. POKAL includes nine projects within the framework of the Chronic Care Model (CCM). In addition, POKAL will train young (mental) health professionals in research competences within primary care settings. POKAL will address specific challenges in diagnosis (reliability of diagnosis, ignoring suicidal risks), in treatment (insufficient patient involvement, highly fragmented care and inappropriate long-time anti-depressive medication) and in implementation of innovations (insufficient guideline adherence, use of irrelevant patient outcomes, ignoring relevant context factors) in primary depression care. Methods In 2021 POKAL started with a first group of 16 trainees in general practice (GPs), pharmacy, psychology, public health, informatics, etc. The program is scheduled for at least 6 years, so a second group of trainees starting in 2024 will also have three years of research-time. Experienced principal investigators (PIs) supervise all trainees in their specific projects. All projects refer to the CCM and focus on the diagnostic, therapeutic, and implementation challenges. Results The first cohort of the POKAL research training group will develop and test new depression-specific diagnostics (hermeneutical strategies, predicting models, screening for suicidal ideation), treatment (primary-care based psycho-education, modulating factors in depression monitoring, strategies of de-prescribing) and implementation in primary care (guideline implementation, use of patient-assessed data, identification of relevant context factors). Based on those results the second cohort of trainees and their PIs will run two major trials to proof innovations in primary care-based a) diagnostics and b) treatment for depression. Conclusion The research and training programme POKAL aims to provide appropriate approaches for depression diagnosis and treatment in primary care.
This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (diagnostic). The objectives are as follows:To determine the diagnostic test accuracy (DTA) of the following five widely used self-reporting questionnaires for detecting anxiety disorders against standardized or structured clinical interviews as the reference standard among adults in any setting. This is a generic protocol for four parallel Cochrane Reviews of DTA.
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