Depression, a common and treatable psychiatric disorder in later life,
is often overlooked in geriatric medical patients. The authors evaluated
the validity of two self-rating depression scales, the Zung Self-Rating
Depression Scale and the Popoff Index of Depression, for 55 elderly
patients. They compared these ratings with the diagnosis assigned by a
psychiatrist who was blind to scale results and who interviewed these
patients using DSM-III criteria. The two scales correctly classified 80%
and 69% of the subjects, respectively. The authors identify six items from
the two scales that may serve as a simple screening instrument for the
detection of depression in geriatric medical patients.Abstract Teaser