Screening for Depression in a Geriatric Rehabilitation Sample

Abstract

Objective: To examine the utility of a short depression inventory (SDI) for use with elderly medical inpatients. Method: Subjects were 132 consecutive admissions to the inpatient geriatric rehabilitation unit at MetroHealth Medical Center, a general medical teaching hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. Sixty of the original sample qualified for inclusion in the final sample. Within the first five days of admission, all subjects were administered the Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE). Ss who scored 20 or above were asked to complete the SDI and the GDI. A clinical interview used DSM-III-R criteria to establish the diagnosis of major depression. The order of presentation of questionnaire or interview was varied to control for the effects of presentation order. Results: When an optimal cut-off score of 4 or above on the SDI was used, the sensitivity and specificity were 100% and 85% respectively. Using the GDS, sensitivity and specificity were 100% and 90%. Conclusions: Using the SDI, impressive sensitivity and specificity were achieved. The SDI was also essentially equivalent to the GDI psychometrically. The SDI appears to have good promise as a depression screen in medical populations.