The Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 is a sensitive case-finder of clinically important depressive states in elderly people in primary care

Abstract

Objective: No depression rating scale has yet been designed to identify all clinically important depressive states in elderly. Therefore, this study investigated the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25), a self-rating scale for depression, to see if it was a sensitive indicator of major, minor and subsyndromal depression.

Methods: Structured interviews of 37 people with a high depressive score and an age and sex matched control group comprised of 37 persons with a low depressive score in HSCL-25, in order to compare the HSCL-25 ratings with the Montgomery-Asberg-Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) as well as with the criteria for major, minor and subsyndromal depression.

Results: The sensitivity for identifying any depression was 94% and the specificity was 94% for HSCL-25 compared to the diagnostic criteria for depressive disorders.

Conclusions: HSCL-25 is a sensitive case-finder of any depressive disorder and may be useful in general practice and for screening studies of depression in elderly people.