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Screening for Depression in Patients with Chronic Illness

Why and How?

  • Practical Disease Management
  • Published:
Disease Management & Health Outcomes

Abstract

Why should depression screening be conducted in chronically ill populations? Depression is a disabling illness and is very common among patients who have chronic illnesses. Despite its high prevalence in this patient population, depression often goes unrecognized. Having a plan for a population-based screening program for depression can not only identify patients who are at risk of depression, but can also help to foster early treatment and enhanced care for these patients. This article provides an overview of commonly-used depression screening tools and presents an example of how this might be carried out in a healthcare organization.

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Acknowledgements

All of the authors for this article are employed by LifeMasters Supported SelfCare, Inc. Neither they nor LifeMasters have received any outside financial funding for the production of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LifeMasters Supported SelfCare Inc., 280 Utah Avenue, South San Francisco, California, 94080, USA

    Jeffrey M. Davis (Chief Medical Officer) & Christine M. Gershtein

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  1. Jeffrey M. Davis
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  2. Christine M. Gershtein
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Correspondence to Jeffrey M. Davis.

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Davis, J.M., Gershtein, C.M. Screening for Depression in Patients with Chronic Illness. Dis-Manage-Health-Outcomes 11, 375–378 (2003). https://doi.org/10.2165/00115677-200311060-00003

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2165/00115677-200311060-00003

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