Depression in adults: GPs are not so bad at diagnosis
Depression in adults: GPs are not so bad at diagnosis
Timonen and Liukkonen state that, according to cross sectional studies, 50-70% of patients with depression in primary care remain undetected.1 This attack on GPs’ ability to recognise depression is out of date and should not go unchallenged.
Studies have shown that many missed cases have relatively mild symptoms, that lie just above the threshold on screening measures for depression. These cases have dubious clinical relevance and may be false positives because all diagnostic measures have rating errors.2 In addition, cross sectional recognition rates are obtained from a single 10 minute consultation and usually exclude patients whom GPs have already recognised as depressed.
The article fails to acknowledge studies showing that many "missed" patients are diagnosed correctly at later visits. Kessler et al found that, although many patients with depression did not receive a diagnosis at a single consultation, most were given one at later consultations or recovered without a GP’s.
humans, gps, letter, standards, depression, family practice, diagnosis, adults, clinical competence, depressive disorder, adult
522
Kendrick, T.
c697a72c-c698-469d-8ac2-f00df40583e5
2008
Kendrick, T.
c697a72c-c698-469d-8ac2-f00df40583e5
Abstract
Timonen and Liukkonen state that, according to cross sectional studies, 50-70% of patients with depression in primary care remain undetected.1 This attack on GPs’ ability to recognise depression is out of date and should not go unchallenged.
Studies have shown that many missed cases have relatively mild symptoms, that lie just above the threshold on screening measures for depression. These cases have dubious clinical relevance and may be false positives because all diagnostic measures have rating errors.2 In addition, cross sectional recognition rates are obtained from a single 10 minute consultation and usually exclude patients whom GPs have already recognised as depressed.
The article fails to acknowledge studies showing that many "missed" patients are diagnosed correctly at later visits. Kessler et al found that, although many patients with depression did not receive a diagnosis at a single consultation, most were given one at later consultations or recovered without a GP’s.
This record has no associated files available for download.
More information
Published date: 2008
Keywords:
humans, gps, letter, standards, depression, family practice, diagnosis, adults, clinical competence, depressive disorder, adult
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 61883
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/61883
ISSN: 0959-8138
PURE UUID: 3d078eaf-ffe3-486e-941c-b07f5280f651
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 03 Sep 2008
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:00
Export record
Altmetrics
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics
