The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale depression subscale, but not the Beck Depression Inventory-Fast Scale, identifies patients with acute coronary syndrome at elevated risk of 1-year mortality

Doyle, Frank; McGee, Hannah M.; De La Harpe, Davida; Shelley, Emer; Conroy, Ronán

doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2005.09.004

« Previous Next »Journal of Psychosomatic Research
Volume 60, Issue 5 , Pages 461-467, May 2006

The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale depression subscale, but not the Beck Depression Inventory-Fast Scale, identifies patients with acute coronary syndrome at elevated risk of 1-year mortality

Frank Doyle
- Department of Psychology, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 120 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
- Department of Epidemiology and Public Health Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 120 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
- Corresponding author. Department of Epidemiology and Public Health Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin 2, Ireland. Tel.: +353 1 4022718; fax: +353 1 4022764.
Hannah M. McGee
- Department of Psychology, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 120 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
Davida De La Harpe
- Department of Epidemiology and Public Health Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 120 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
Emer Shelley
- Department of Epidemiology and Public Health Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 120 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
Ronán Conroy
- Department of Epidemiology and Public Health Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 120 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland

Received 3 May 2005; received in revised form 16 August 2005; accepted 6 September 2005.

Abstract

Objective

The objective of this study was to investigate the use of short-form depression scales in assessing 1-year mortality risk in a national sample of patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS).

Methods

Patients with ACS (N=598) completed either the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale depression subscale (HADS-D) or the Beck Depression Inventory-Fast Scale (BDI-FS). Their mortality status was assessed at 1 year.

Results

Cox proportional hazards modeling showed that patients depressed at baseline (combining HADS-D and BDI-FS depressed cases) were more likely to die within 1 year [hazard ratio (HR)=2.8, 95% CI=1.4–5.7, P=.005], even when controlling for major medical and demographic variables (HR=4.1, 95% CI=1.6–10.3, P=.003). Scoring above the threshold on the HADS-D predicted mortality (HR=4.2, 95% CI=1.8–10.0, P=.001), but scoring above the threshold on the BDI-FS did not (HR=1.8, 95% CI=0.6–5.6, P=.291).