The stability of depression scores in patients who are receiving palliative care

Depression occurs in approximately 25% of palliative care patients. It often is not recognized and is, therefore, not treated. This can lead to difficulties in the management of physical symptoms, such as pain, and also cause much distress to patients and their families. Many professionals working in palliative care are concerned that screening for depression may not be appropriate in a population of patients whose illness is changing rapidly. To explore the value of screening, all patients attending a palliative care day unit were invited to participate in a 12-week study in which they were requested to complete at weekly intervals a previously validated depression-screening tool for palliative care. Fifty patients participated. The scores of all patients who scored below the cut-off threshold at initial assessment showed a mean change of +/- 0.56 (range - 6 to + 7) on the screening tool. This observation suggests that patients' scores on a self-completed scale that has been validated for use in the palliative care population remained largely stable during the last few months of life. Screening palliative care patients for depression at referral or first assessment may be useful in assessing depression within the palliative care setting. (C) U.S. Cancer Pain Relief Committee, 2002.