Geriatric Depression Scale

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Objective[edit | edit source]

The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) is a patient-reported outcome measure created by Yesavage et al. in 1983 to screen depressive symptoms among older adults.[1][2]

Originally, this screening tool has 30 items, but several shorter versions were also developed:

  • GDS 15
  • GDS 10
  • GDS 4

Intended Population[edit | edit source]

The scale is intended for the geriatric population (aged 60 years or more). It can be used for healthy, medically ill, and cognitively impaired older adults.

Method of Use[edit | edit source]

Equipment required: Questionnaire and pen

Instructions: Choose between yes or no regarding how you felt over the past week

Scoring:

GDS 15

  • 0-4 normal = depending on age, education, and complaints;
  • 5-8 = mild depression
  • 9-11 = moderate depression
  • 12-15 = severe depression.

Reference
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Evidence[edit | edit source]

Reliability[edit | edit source]

Validity[edit | edit source]

In a 2020 systematic review and meta-analysis, all versions of GDS were found to be useful for determining depression among older adults:[1]

GDS version Sensitivity Specificity
GDS 30 82% 76%
GDS 15 86% 79%
GDS 10 87% 75%
GDS 4 74% 71%


th specificity of 71 %. All the four forms of GDS belonged to right lower quadrant of LR scatter-gram indicating neither confirmation nor exclusion.

Responsiveness[edit | edit source]

Miscellaneous
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Links[edit | edit source]

GDS 15

References[edit | edit source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Krishnamoorthy Y, Rajaa S, Rehman T. Diagnostic accuracy of various forms of geriatric depression scale for screening of depression among older adults: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics. 2020 Mar 1;87:104002.
  2. Stone LE, Granier KL, Segal DL. Geriatric depression scale. In Encyclopedia of gerontology and population aging 2022 May 24 (pp. 2112-2119). Cham: Springer International Publishing.