Aj. Flint et Sl. Rifat, VALIDATION OF THE HOSPITAL ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION SCALE AS A MEASURE OF SEVERITY OF GERIATRIC DEPRESSION, International journal of geriatric psychiatry, 11(11), 1996, pp. 991-994
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Hospital Anxiety and Dep
ression Scale (HAD) as a measure of severity of geriatric depression.
One hundred and one elderly patients with DSM-III-R non-psychotic non-
bipolar major depression were rated by the interviewing psychiatrist o
n the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) and the Montgomery-A
sberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) at index assessment and at the c
ompletion of treatment. In a blind fashion, patients completed the HAD
at the same time points. At initial assessment, correlations between
the depression subscale of the HAD (HAD-D) and the HRSD and MADRS were
0.51 (p<0.001) and 0.54 (p<0.001) respectively, and at final assessme
nt the correlations were 0.73 (<0.001) and 0.79 (p<0.001) respectively
. The HAD-D was also sensitive to change in the severity of depression
(r(S) = 0.58, p<0.001). These correlations were not of sufficient mag
nitude for the HAD-D to be used as an alternative to the HRSD or MADRS
. However, in certain circumstances, the HAD-D may be a useful adjunct
to these observer-rated scales.