A brief and rapid procedure to measure the intensity of depressive symptoms in Primary Care

Introduction. Depression occupies a substantial part of medical visit attendance. However, medical practitioners have very little time so that a brief, quick and reliable procedure to evaluate the intensity of symptoms and their changes could be useful. Our objective has been to analyze the reliability of a self-applied Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) to measure symptom intensity in depressed patients within this context. Material and Methods. One hundred depressed outpatients (ICD-10) stated their clinical situation on a VAS. The psychiatrist evaluated them using a Global Clinical Impression (GGI) and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS-17). Results and conclusions. The patient's VAS showed high correlation with the HDRS-17 and with the GCI used by the psychiatrist (r = 0.63 and r = 0.58; p = 0.000). This suggests that the use of a VAS in Primary Care could be useful and reliable for these purposes within the medical contexts of those having little time availability.