Standardization of the Korean Version of Patient Health Questionnaire-9 as a Screening Instrument for Major Depressive Disorder

Background: Depression is the most frequently encountered mental disorder in primary care. In it is necessary to order to, have a screening tool has high sensitivity and specificity and consumes less time. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the validity of the Korean version of Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Methods: A convenience sample of 160 ambulatory patients in a family practice clinic at Inha university hos-pital and the health care center at Bakae hospital received the Korean version of PHQ-9. Then the subjects were interviewed by a resident of family medicine according to DSM-IV criteria. The sensitivity, the specificity, the likelihood ratio, the ROC curve, the validity and the reliability of the Korean version of PHQ-9, and the consumptive time were examined. Results: There were 22 pationts in the depression group and 138 in the non-depression group. The Cronbach's a was 0.852. The sensitivity and the specificity were 81.8% and 89.9%, respectively, and the positive likelihood ratio was 8.10. The area under curve had an excellent value, 0.944 (P< 0.05). The consumptive time was 2.66 +/- 1.13 minutes. Conclusion: The Korean version of PHQ-9 hay a good reliability and validity, less consumptive time, and easy calculating score. Therefore, the Korean version of PHQ-9 seems to be a useful measure for detecting depression in primary care.