Diagnostic accuracy of various forms of geriatric depression scale for screening of depression among older adults: Systematic review and meta-analysis. (March 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Krishnamoorthy, Yuvaraj; Rajaa, Sathish; Rehman, Tanveer
• Is Part Of: Archives of gerontology and geriatrics. Volume 87(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-03
• Subjects: Elderly -- Geriatric depression scale -- Meta-analysis -- Validation studies; Aging -- Periodicals; Geriatrics -- Periodicals; Gerontology -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 305.26
• DOI: 10.1016/j.archger.2019.104002
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0167-4943

Abstract

Highlights: This is the first review to provide pooled estimates for four different forms of GDS. All the four forms of GDS had higher sensitivity and specificity for screening of depression among elderly. Shorter forms of GDS (GDS 15, GDS 10) had better diagnostic accuracy compared to GDS 30. Shorter versions of GDS can be applied for screening of depression in primary care. Abstract: Objectives: Depression is under-reported and under-identified by the healthcare professionals. Geriatric depression scale (GDS) is one of the most commonly used instruments for screening the older adults for depression. The current review was done to determine the diagnostic accuracy of various forms of GDS for screening of depression among older adults. Methods: We conducted systematic search in various databases like Medline, Cochrane library, Sciencedirect and Google Scholar from inception till May 2019. Quality of trials was assessed by Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 tool. We performed bivariate meta-analysis to obtain the pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive, negative likelihood ratio and diagnostic odds ratio for each of the GDS forms. Results: Totally 53 studies with 17, 018 participants were included in the review. We found the pooled sensitivity and specificity of GDS 30 to be 82 % and 76 % with near higher diagnostic accuracy (AUC = 0.85). GDS 15 had pooled sensitivity and specificity of 86 % and 79 % with higher diagnostic accuracy (AUC = 0.90). GDS 10 had pooled sensitivity and specificity of 87 % and 75 % with AUC = 0.83. Our study found GDS 4 to have sensitivity of 74 % with specificity of 71 %. All the four forms of GDS belonged to right lower quadrant of LR scatter-gram indicating neither confirmation nor exclusion. Conclusion: Current study found that all the forms of GDS are highly useful for detecting depression among elderly with higher sensitivity and specificity. The diagnostic performance was much better for shorter forms of GDS such as GDS 15 and GDS 10 when compared to GDS 30.