Sensitivity and specificity of Urdu version of the PHQ-9 to screen depression in patients with coronary artery disease.

BACKGROUND: The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) possesses many characteristics of a good screening tool and has the capacity to be used for screening depression in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).

AIM: To examine the psychometric properties and criterion validity of the PHQ-9 to screen and detect depression in patients with CAD in Pakistan.

DESIGN: In this validation study, 150 patients with CAD completed the Urdu version of the PHQ-9. The major depressive episode module of the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) was used as the gold standard.

RESULTS: The Urdu version of the PHQ-9 revealed a good internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha of 0.83. Optimal sensitivity (76%) and specificity (76%) were achieved using the cut-off score of PHQ-9 ≥6, with area under the ROC curve of 0.86.

CONCLUSION: The Urdu version of the PHQ-9 has acceptable psychometric properties to screen and detect major depression in patients with CAD.