An overview of which health domains to consider and when to apply them in measurement-based care for depression and anxiety disorders.

INTRODUCTION: Measurement-based care (MBC) transfers the scientific principle from controlled clinical trials to the daily routine treatment to improve the care of patients with anxiety and depression.

AIM: Within the pharmacopsychometric triangle in which the domain of desired clinical effect of treatment is balanced against the domain of undesired treatment side effects in terms of the domain of restored well-being. The relevance of these domains both in the controlled clinical trials and in the MBC trials will be tested.

METHODS: The MBC trials are compared with the controlled clinical trials focusing on the health domains of symptoms reduction (anxiety/depression), side effects of treatment, self-reported quality of life and social functioning.

RESULTS: The amount of MBC trials was found rather sparse but information emerged demonstrating that the full clinician-rated Hamilton Depression Scale (HAM-D17 ) was sufficient for the identification of patients being in need of treatment and the HAM-D6 subscale was valid as outcome measure. From the patient-reported domains, the full Symptom Checklist (SCL-90), the 10-item anxiety/depression subscale (SCL-10) was found valid as symptom outcome. From the full Patient Reported Inventory of Side-Effects (PRISE), a subscale including Clinician Action of Response (CAR) for side effects to antidepressants was found valid (PRISE-CAR), as was the World Health Organization subscale (WHO-5) for the measure of quality of life.

CONCLUSION: The pharmacopsychometric triangle is also important in the MBC trials for improving the care of patients with anxiety and depression. However, the amount of MBC trials is still rather sparse.