Development and validation of a geriatric depression screening scale: A preliminary report

Abstract

A new Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) designed specifically for rating depression in the elderly was tested for reliability and validity and compared with the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRS-D) and the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS). In constructing the GDS a 100-item questionnaire was administered to normal and severely depressed subjects. The 30 questions most highly correlated with the total scores were then selected and readministered to new groups of elderly subjects. These subjects were classified as normal, mildly depressed or severely depressed on the basis of Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) for depression. The GDS, HRS-D and SDS were all found to be internally consistent measures, and each of the scales was correlated with the subject's number of RDC symptoms. However, the GDS and the HRS-D were significantly better correlated with RDC symptoms than was the SDS. The authors suggest that the GDS represents a reliable and valid self-rating depression screening scale for elderly populations.

Sex differences in LRRK2 G2019S and idiopathic Parkinson's Disease

“…While measures varied slightly between sites, all participants completed a study visit that included historical information on clinical features and treatment, neurological examination including quantitative motor measures utilizing the Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS,10) and MDS‐UPDRS11 Hoehn and Yahr rating scale,12 and disability from the Schwab‐England rating scale. Information on nonmotor PD features included measures of cognition (Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA,13), mood (Geriatric Depression scale, abbreviated version GDS15,14 Beck Depression Inventory, BDI15), dysautonomia (SCOPA‐AUT,16), olfaction (UPSIT17), and sleep (Epworth Sleepiness Scale, ESS18 and REM sleep behavior disorder questionnaire, RBDSQ19). However, because of the large number of missing responses, the sexual questions were not analyzed in either group in the SCOPA‐AUT.…”

Diagnostic utility of ASL‐MRI and FDG‐PET in the behavioral variant of FTD and AD

“…The neuropsychological assessment battery includes the mini‐mental state examination (MMSE),32 tests of working memory (digit span backwards), visuospatial function (copy of a complex figure), visuospatial memory (memory of a figure after 10 min), confrontational naming (15 items from the Boston Naming Test33), a brief syntax comprehension task with five questions requiring participants to point to pictures corresponding to specific sentences (e.g., point to the picture of the woman being kissed by the man), five calculations, set‐shifting (modified version of the Trails B task34), and tests of verbal fluency (words beginning with the letter “D” or “H” and animals) and nonverbal fluency (design fluency35). The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS36) is used to assess mood. Level of functional impairment was quantified using the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR) 37.…”

Cognitive phenotype of psychotic symptoms in Alzheimer's disease: evidence for impaired visuoperceptual function in the misidentification subtype

“…Patients who were currently experiencing, or had experienced, both types of symptoms were described as ‘mixed’. The Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) (Motor Examination) was used to screen for the presence of parkinsonism (cut‐off score of 7) (Ballard et al ., 1997), the MMSE (Folstein et al ., 1975) was used to assess global cognitive function (cut‐off score of 10), the National Adult Reading Test (Nelson, 1982) provided an estimation of premorbid intellectual functioning and the Geriatric Depression Scale‐15 (Yesavage et al ., 1982) was used to exclude participants with clinically relevant depressive symptoms (cut‐off score of 6). Medication status (prescription of cholinesterase inhibitors and/or memantine) was documented at the time of screening and controlled for in all statistical analyses.…”