Validity and reliability of geriatric depression scale-15 (short form) in Turkish older adults

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Geriatric Depression Scale-15 (GDS-15) in the Turkish population and to determine the prevalence and socio-demographic characteristics of the depression according to the Geriatric Depression Scale-15 of 9 Eylul University Hospital Geriatric Outpatient Clinic. Method:The study is a cross-sectional study. A total of 329 outpatients were included in the study. In the first stage, Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) was applied to the patients. After examining whether the patients met the diagnosis of depression based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5) diagnostic criteria, Geriatric Depression Scale long form (GDS) was administered by another practitioner. The items of the short form were separated from the long form and two separate scale scores were obtained. GDS and GDS-15 scores were compared with DSM-5. Results: According to DSM-5 criteria, when the cut-off score of GDS-15 was taken as ≥5 points, the sensitivity and specificity of detecting depression were found to be 92% and 91%, respectively. For GDS-15, the area under the Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve was found to be 0.97 in the 95% confidence interval. (95% CI = 0.947-0.996), p <0.001. Conclusion: GDS-15, just like GDS, is a useful scale to predict depression in the elderly. This study supports the validity and reliability of GDS-15 in Turkish elderly population and primary care centers. Key Words: Depression, GDS-15, validation, Yesavage Geriatric Depression Scale, sensitivity, specificity