Elsevier

Psychosomatics

Volume 43, Issue 5, September–October 2002, Pages 386-393
Psychosomatics

Original Research Report
Validity of the Beck Depression Inventory, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, SCL-90, and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale as Screening Instruments for Depression in Stroke Patients

https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.psy.43.5.386Get rights and content

Most instruments used to assess poststroke depression have never been specifically validated in stroke patients. This study evaluated the depression screening abilities of three questionnaires and one observer-rated scale in 202 consecutive patients 1 month after they experienced their first-ever ischemic stroke. At their respective optimum cutoff values, the sensitivity of the selfrated scales varied between 80% and 90%, while the specificity was about 60%. For the observerrated scale (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale), sensitivity was 78.1%, and specificity was 74.6%. The instruments clearly performed better in men than in women. Despite this difference, it was concluded that all scales were acceptable screening instruments for poststroke depression.

Cited by (0)

View Abstract