Standardization of the Korean Version of Patient Health Questionnaire-9 as a Screening Instrument for Major Depressive Disorder

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Depression is the most frequently encountered mental disorder in primary care. In it is necessary to order to, have a screening tool has high sensitivity and specificity and consumes less time. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the validity of the Korean version of Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). METHODS: A convenience sample of 160 ambulatory patients in a family practice clinic at Inha university hospital and the health care center at Bakae hospital received the Korean version of PHQ-9. Then the subjects were interviewed by a resident of family medicine according to DSM- IV criteria. The sensitivity, the specificity, the likelihood ratio, the ROC curve, the validity and the reliability of the Korean version of PHQ-9, and the consumptive time were examined. RESULTS: There were 22 pationts in the depression group and 138 in the non-depression group. The Cronbach's alpha was 0.852. The sensitivity and the specificity were 81.8% and 89.9%, respectively, and the positive likelihood ratio was 8.10. The area under curve had an excellent value, 0.944 (P<0.05). The consumptive time was 2.66+/-1.13 minutes. CONCLUSION: The Korean version of PHQ-9 hay a good reliability and validity, less consumptive time, and easy calculating score. Therefore, the Korean version of PHQ-9 seems to be a useful measure for detecting depression in primary care.