 |
| PATIENT HEALTH QUESTIONNAIRE |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
The PHQ-9 is the nine item depression scale of the Patient Health Questionnaire. The PHQ-9 is a powerful tool for assisting primary care clinicians in diagnosing depression as well as selecting and monitoring treatment. The primary care clinician and/or office staff should discuss with the patient the reasons for completing the questionnaire and how to fill it out. After the patient has completed the PHQ-9 questionnaire, it is scored by the primary care clinician or office staff.
There are two components of the PHQ-9:
• Assessing symptoms and functional impairment to make a tentative depression
diagnosis, and
• Deriving a severity score to help select and monitor treatment
The PHQ-9 is based directly on the diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Fourth Edition (DSM-IV).
For easy of use, Pfizer and others have suggested using a simpler scoring proxy system to estimate diagnostic categories. The MacArthur Initiative on Depression and Primary Care recommends using the initial two component scoring system. We also recommend regular use of a chronicity question to aid consideration of mild chronic depression (dysthymic disorder).
On the following pages we provide the listed items to assist in learning about using the PHQ-9. For more extensive training and/or consultation please contact us.
Sample PHQ-9
Guide for Making a Tentative Diagnosis
Guide for Severity Scoring
Provisional Diagnosis Table
Treatment Response Table
Reproduction Quality Blank PHQ-(Download - English version)
Reproduction Quality Blank PHQ-(Download - Spanish version)
References
|
| Spitzer R, Kroenke K, Williams J. Validation and utility of a self-report version of PRIME-MD: |
|
the PHQ Primary Care Study. Journal of the American Medical Association 1999; 282: 1737-1744. Abstract
|
| Kroenke K, Spitzer R L, Williams J B. The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity |
|
measure. Journal of General Internal Medicine 2001; 16(9): 606-613 Abstract
|
| Rost K, Smith J. Retooling multiple levels to improve primary care depression treatment. |
|
Journal of General Internal Medicine 16: 644-645, 2001 PubMed Citation
|
| Kroenke K, Spitzer RL. The PHQ-9: A new depression and diagnostic severity measure. |
|
Psychiatric Annals 2002; 32: 509-521.
|
| Williams JW, Noel PH, Cordes J A, Ramirez G,Pignone M. Is this patient clinically |
|
depressed? Journal of the American Medical Association 2002; 287: 1160-1170. Abstract
|
| Lowe B, Unutzer J, Callahan CM, Perkins AJ, Kroenke K. Monitoring depression treatment |
|
outcomes with the patient health questionnaire-9. Medical Care, 2004. 42(12): 1194-201. Abstract
|
| Pinto-Meza A, Serrano-Blanco A, Penarrubia MT, Blanco E, Haro JM. Assessing depression |
|
in primary care with the PHQ-9: can it be carried out over the telephone? Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2005. 20(8): 738-42. Abstract
|
|
The PHQ-9 is adapted from PRIMEMDTODAY, developed by Drs. Robert L. Spitzer, Janet B.W. Williams, Kurt Kroenke, and colleagues, with an educational grant from Pfizer Inc. For research information, contact Dr Spitzer at rls8@columbia.edu. The names PRIME-MD® and PRIMEMDTODAY™ are trademarks of Pfizer Inc.
PHQ9 Copyright © Pfizer Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission of Pfizer, Inc. PRIME-MD ® is a trademark of Pfizer Inc.
|
|
|
