Kounali, D;
Button, KS;
Lewis, G;
Gilbody, S;
Kessler, D;
Araya, R;
Duffy, L;
... Lewis, G; + view all
(2020)
How much change is enough? Evidence from a longitudinal study on depression in UK primary care.
Psychological Medicine
10.1017/S0033291720003700.
(In press).
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and the Generalised Anxiety Disorder Assessment (GAD-7) are widely used in the evaluation of interventions for depression and anxiety. The smallest reduction in depressive symptoms that matter to patients is known as the Minimum Clinically Important Difference (MCID). Little empirical study of the MCID for these scales exists. METHODS: A prospective cohort of 400 patients in UK primary care were interviewed on four occasions, 2 weeks apart. At each time point, participants completed all three questionnaires and a 'global rating of change' scale (GRS). MCID estimation relied on estimated changes in symptoms according to reported improvement on the GRS scale, stratified by baseline severity on the Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS-R). RESULTS: For moderate baseline severity, those who reported improvement on the GRS had a reduction of 21% (95% confidence interval (CI) -26.7 to -14.9) on the PHQ-9; 23% (95% CI -27.8 to -18.0) on the BDI-II and 26.8% (95% CI -33.5 to -20.1) on the GAD-7. The corresponding threshold scores below which participants were more likely to report improvement were -1.7, -3.5 and -1.5 points on the PHQ-9, BDI-II and GAD-7, respectively. Patients with milder symptoms require much larger reductions as percentage of their baseline to endorse improvement. CONCLUSIONS: An MCID representing 20% reduction of scores in these scales, is a useful guide for patients with moderately severe symptoms. If treatment had the same effect on patients irrespective of baseline severity, those with low symptoms are unlikely to notice a benefit. FUNDING: Funding. National Institute for Health Research.
Type: | Article |
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Title: | How much change is enough? Evidence from a longitudinal study on depression in UK primary care |
Location: | England |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
DOI: | 10.1017/S0033291720003700 |
Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0033291720003700 |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | BDI-II, Baseline severity depression, GAD-7, PHQ-9, beta-regression, depression, minimal clinically important difference, primary care |
UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Division of Psychiatry |
URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10114161 |
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