Original Contributions
Screening for Depression in Emergency Department Patients

This work was presented at the Third Mediterranean Emergency Medicine Congress, Nice, France, September 2005.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jemermed.2008.05.004Get rights and content

Abstract

Background: Depression is a common disease, yet it is not commonly studied in the Emergency Medicine literature. Study Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence of emergency department (ED) patients who have the symptoms of depression. Design: This was a prospective observational study performed at two EDs over a 9-month period. Adult patients were screened for depression symptoms by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition criteria. Results: There were 505 patients screened from April through December, 2004. Of the 505 patients, 109 (21.6%) screened positive for the symptoms of depression. The prevalence of positive screens was similar at each ED. Conclusion: About 1 in 5 ED patients may be suffering with depression.

Keywords

depression
Emergency Department
screening
DSM-4
In SAD CAGES

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