Assessment of depression in medical patients: A systematic review of the utility of the Beck Depression Inventory-II

Author(s)

Yuan-Pang Wang ^[1] ; Clarice Gorenstein ^{[2, 1]}

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Sch Med, Inst & Dept Psychiat LIM 23, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biomed Sci, Dept Pharmacol, Sao Paulo - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Clinics; v. 68, n. 9, p. 1274-1287, 2013-09-00.

Abstract

To perform a systematic review of the utility of the Beck Depression Inventory for detecting depression in medical settings, this article focuses on the revised version of the scale (Beck Depression Inventory-II), which was reformulated according to the DSM-IV criteria for major depression. We examined relevant investigations with the Beck Depression Inventory-II for measuring depression in medical settings to provide guidelines for practicing clinicians. Considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria seventy articles were retained. Validation studies of the Beck Depression Inventory-II, in both primary care and hospital settings, were found for clinics of cardiology, neurology, obstetrics, brain injury, nephrology, chronic pain, chronic fatigue, oncology, and infectious disease. The Beck Depression Inventory-II showed high reliability and good correlation with measures of depression and anxiety. Its threshold for detecting depression varied according to the type of patients, suggesting the need for adjusted cut-off points. The somatic and cognitive-affective dimension described the latent structure of the instrument. The Beck Depression Inventory-II can be easily adapted in most clinical conditions for detecting major depression and recommending an appropriate intervention. Although this scale represents a sound path for detecting depression in patients with medical conditions, the clinician should seek evidence for how to interpret the score before using the Beck Depression Inventory-II to make clinical decisions. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 08/11415-9 - Validation of the Portuguese version of the Beck Depression Inventory. II (Inventário de Depressão de Beck - II) in a Brazilian sample of college students
• Grantee: Wang Yuan Pang
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants