Screening for Depression in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Systematic Review / 대한내과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) often coexists with co-morbid conditions that significantly affect the prognosis. Although depression frequently coexists with COPD, little about how to screen for depression in COPD patients is known. We report the effectiveness of depression screening in patients with COPD and of the instruments used for this purpose. METHODS: We performed a systematic literature review of the domestic (Research Information Sharing Service, KoreaMed, and Kmbase) and international (Medline, Embase, Cochrane library) databases using "COPD AND depression AND screening tools" as key words. RESULTS: No study directly evaluated the effectiveness of screening for depression in COPD patients. However, depression was present more frequently in patients with COPD. COPD patients with depression were also more likely to be in poor health. A total of eight screening instruments for depression were translated into Korean. All had similar reliabilities and internal consistencies. CONCLUSIONS: Screening of COPD patients for depression is necessary because individuals with this condition are more likely to suffer from depression, which has a negative impact on health. The choice of depression screening instruments may need to be based on considerations of simplicity.