Tag: depression rating scales

Who should we ask about mental health symptoms in adolescents with CFS/ME? Parent-child agreement on the revised children’s anxiety and depression scale

Abstract:

Background: One in three adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) have mental health problems. Multi-informant perspectives are key to psychological assessment. Understanding parent-child agreement is crucial to accurate diagnosis, particularly where severe fatigue limits self-report.

Methods: Agreement on the revised children’s anxiety and depression scale (RCADs) was assessed between parents and children with CFS/ME (n = 93) using Bland-Altman plots, cross tabulations and regression analyses.

Results: Diagnostic thresholds were met more frequently based on child-report. Parent- and child-report had similar sensitivity and specificity on RCADS compared to gold-standard diagnostic interviews. Regression analysis found similar accuracy between both reports. For anxiety diagnoses, odds ratio (OR) for child-report was 1.10 (CI = 1.06-1.14), and 1.10 (CI = 1.05-1.14) for parent-report. For depression, OR for child report was 1.26 (CI = 1.11-1.43), while for parent-report is was 1.25 (CI = 1.10-1.41). For total score, OR for child-report was 1.10 (CI = 1.05-1.13) while OR for parent-report was 1.09 (CI = 1.05-1.13).

Conclusions: Reasonable agreement was observed between parent- and child-report of mental health symptoms in paediatric CFS/ME. While parent-report can facilitate psychological evaluation in CFS/ME, this is not a substitute for a child’s own report.

Source: Serafimova T, Loades M, Gaunt D, Crawley E. Who should we ask about mental health symptoms in adolescents with CFS/ME? Parent-child agreement on the revised children’s anxiety and depression scale. Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2021 Feb 15:1359104521994880. doi: 10.1177/1359104521994880. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33586480.  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33586480/

Use of depression rating scales in chronic fatigue syndrome

Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the performance of three commonly used depression rating scales in a hospital sample of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

METHODS: Sixty-one patients with CDC criteria for CFS completed the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAM-D) and the depression subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-D). Current psychiatric status was assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R. DISORDERS: Patient version (SCID-P). Receiver operating curves were drawn for each of the depression rating scales.

RESULTS: Thirty-one percent of the patients were depressed according to the SCID-P. Using the standard cut-offs, both GHQ and HAM-D overestimated the number of depressed patients, whilst the HADS-D underestimated the number. The receiver operating curves suggest that the optimum cut-offs for GHQ, HAM-D and HADS-D in this population are 7/8, 13/14 and 8/9, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: Standard cutoffs may not be appropriate when using depression rating scales in CFS patients in a tertiary care setting.

 

Source: Henderson M, Tannock C. Use of depression rating scales in chronic fatigue syndrome. J Psychosom Res. 2005 Sep;59(3):181-4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16198192