Evidence-based guideline for the detection of depression in older adults with and without dementia suggest use of MMSE, and either SGDS or CSDD depending on level of cognitive function. Would it be taken as a valid method if a pharmacist use it to assess the depression for research purpose if a psychiatrist is not available?
Practically tghe best and probably the most in use is GDS - Geriatric Depression Scale.It can be find easily and is validated for many languaces. It exists in several versions according to the number of questions in use ( 30 , 15, 10 and even 5 ) .. Any medical professional with experience in GDS can use it.
Prof Arthur,
Thank you for your response. But articles suggest use of Cornell scale for depression in dementia (CSDD) rather than GDS, I.e. to initially assess dementia (using Mini Mental State Examination-MMSE) and than choose either GDS or CSDD. Do u think using GDS in dementia would not alter the result?
- My response generally refers to elderly people without dementia. People with advanced dementia usually cannot cooperate and answer to Dementia tests.
- As for CSDD in early stages of dementia - one condition to use it is to be familiar with it.
In my opinion, it requires some degree of training by someone expert in the field. Many items, regardless of test, can be interpreted as ambiguous. There may be overlaps between depression and the beginning of neurodegenerative disease as well as symptoms fragments of depression in patients with underlying neurological disease. (e.g. isolated apathy in dementing diseases or Parkinson's, which can show double dissociation from depression, which should not occur in depression.)