@article{ref1,
title="Measuring depressive symptoms in the naturalistic primary-care setting",
journal="International journal of clinical practice",
year="2007",
author="McIntyre, R. S. and Konarski, J. Z. and Kennedy, S. H. and Dickens, S. E. and Bagby, R. M.",
volume="61",
number="8",
pages="1278-1282",
abstract="BACKGROUND: The majority of individuals with major depressive disorder are diagnosed and treated in the primary-care setting. A quantifiable critical objective in the management of depression is to achieve and sustain full symptomatic remission. The HAMD-7 is a depression metric validated in both tertiary and primary-care settings. METHODS: Herein, we further characterise the psychometric properties of the HAMD-7 in depressed patients treated in primary-care settings. Several cut-scores were evaluated for maximum agreement; diagnostic efficacy statistics with the original HAMD-7 items were also evaluated. We compared performance of the HAMD-7 in primary care to a previously characterised tertiary sample. RESULTS: The depressive symptoms most frequently endorsed (>or=70%) and most sensitive to change during antidepressant treatment in depressed primary-care patients were depressed mood, guilt, work and activities, psychic and somatic anxiety and fatigue. LIMITATIONS: This is a post hoc analysis of a primary-care database; assumptions regarding the definition of symptomatic remission in depression affect interpretation. CONCLUSION: Measurement-based care with the HAMD-7 quantifies the severity of commonly reported depressive items and their responsivity to treatment. The HAMD-7, inclusive of the suicide item, is capable of tracking symptom progress, with a validated remission cut-score.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1368-5031",
doi="10.1111/j.1742-1241.2007.01448.x",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1742-1241.2007.01448.x"
}