Effect of age on geriatric depression scale performance in Parkinson's disease.

The purpose of this study was to compare the validity of the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) in nonelderly (<65 years), young-elderly (age, 65-75), and old-elderly (>75 years) patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). 57 nonelderly, 88 young-elderly, and 81 old-elderly PD patients were administered the GDS-15 and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV depression module. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted for GDS-15 scores against a DSM-IV diagnosis of major or minor depression. The discriminant validity of the GDS-15 was high for nonelderly, young-elderly, and old-elderly subjects (ROC area under curve = 0.92, 0.91, and 0.95, respectively), with optimal dichotomization at a cut-off of 4/5 (85% sensitivity and 84% specificity in nonelderly; 89% sensitivity and 82% specificity in young-elderly) and 5/6 (90% sensitivity and 90% specificity in old-elderly). In conclusion, the GDS-15 has comparable validity in younger and older PD patients, suggesting its appropriateness as a depression screening instrument in PD patients of all ages. 2007 Movement Disorder Society