Table 1

Methods

Author
Blacker et al. [59]
Grembowski et al. [51]
Groningen Primary Care Study [32-35,50,64,65]
Kessler et al. [61]
Kessler et al. [45,60]
Limosin et al. [43]
Longitudinal investigation of depression outcomes in primary care (LIDO) [39,40, 44,52,62]
Mental Health & General Practice Investigation (MaGPie) [63]
Manning et al. [48]

Location
England
US
Netherlands
US
England
France
Israel, Brazil, Spain, Australia, Russia, US
New Zealand
US
Primary care setting/s
One health centre
261 primary physicians in private practice from 72 offices
25 General Practitioners
A multi-specialty group practice with 175 physicians
One general practice
560 General Practitioners
6 research sites Primary care & outpatient services, day care services, & inpatient hospital services
70 General Practitioners
One private ambulatory family practice centre
Selection of primary care setting
Not stated
Consenting GPs from Physician Referral Study
Representative sample
Not stated
Not stated
Randomly selected
Track record of international collaborative research
Randomly selected
Not stated
Recruitment
Consecutive patients
Waiting room
Consecutive patients
Patients who used clinic
Consecutive patients
Each GP enrolled first patient to meet criteria for major depressive episode
Patients attending primary care facilities
All adult attenders
Consecutive non-referred patients presenting with impairment due to depression or anxiety
Screen for depression/mental health
General Health Questionnaire (GHQ)-30, Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (SADS)
Symptom Checklist (SCL) -20
GHQ-30 & rated by GP for current mental health problem
GHQ-30
GHQ-12
Structured Clinical Interview for DSM (SCID)
Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D)
GHQ-12
5 question screening instrument
Exclusion criteria
Not stated
<18 years, non English speaking
Not stated
Not stated
Not stated
<18 years
Recent treatment for depression; psychoses; dementia; any other condition would interfere with the study objectives
< 18 years, not able to read English & consulting with GP other than index GP
Not stated
Criteria for inclusion in cohort
Depressive disorders
Depressive symptoms
Three or more psychiatric symptoms on PSE
192 patients with GHQ-30 scores = 4 & 55 with lower scores
Completion of GHQ
Major Depressive Episode & scored Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) ≥ 20
Major depression
GHQ ≥ 5, + those scoring GHQ 2–4 had a 30% probability & those scoring GHQ 0–1 had an 8% probability of selection. A random 50% of those not selected by GHQ but whom the GP had identified as having psychological problems were also selected
Non referred patients presenting with impairment due to anxiety or depression
Measurement of depression at baseline
SADS
-
Present State Exam (PSE)
SADS-Lifetime Version
Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS)
SCID, Clinical Global Impression (CGI), MADRS
Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI), CES-D
CIDI, Somatic and Psychological Health Report (SPHERE)-34
SCID
Cohort (% female)
196 (% female not stated)
1336 [Data presented on 942 (74% female) insured patients with complete follow ups]
201 (64%–71% across onset groups) [Includes 20 participants with depression and 13 with borderline depression]
247 at first interview [Paper reports only on 166 followed up (54% female)]
305 (74%) [305 (74%) screened with GHQ in cross sectional study in 1997 (Kessler et al., 1999) [52% (157/305) GHQ +ve at screening, not clear from 2002 paper how many of the 157 were found again in 2002 paper] [60]]
492 (72%)
1117 (ranged across sites: 54–71%)
908 (66%)
108 (80%) [108 consecutive patients were prospectively evaluated, the paper does not state if this is the total number in cohort or those retained at follow up]
Duration of follow-up
12 months
6 months
3.5 years
6 months
3 years
6 months
12 months
12 months
8 months median follow up (Range 1–72 months)
Other comorbidity measured
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Care received examined
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Definition of depression outcome
Loss of key symptoms & syndromal status + return to normal functioning for a minimum of 2 months
Not stated
No longer met criteria for baseline diagnosis
Remitted cases were those with positive SADS-L diagnosis at baseline but not at follow up
No longer case on GHQ-12
Symptomatic exacerbation (MADRS score > 20) among patients who had responded to treatment but had not yet been well for a sufficient amount of time (under 6 months)
Complete remission from major depression
Results not yet available on outcome
Not stated
Author
Michigan Depression Project [47, 49]
Parker et al. [68]
Ronalds et al. [37]
Rost et al. [67]
Rost et al. [38]
Schulberg et. [66]
Wagner et al. [42, 54]
WHO Collaborative Project on Psychological Problems in General Health Care [41,46,53,56,58,69,70]
Location
US
Australia
England
US
US
US
US
15 centres in 14 countries [Countries included in the study are: India, Turkey, Greece, Germany, The Netherlands [55], Nigeria, UK, Japan, France, Brazil, Chile, US [57,70], China & Italy [36]
Primary care setting/s
Family physicians & University of Michigan, Department of Psychiatry Outpatient Depression Program
12 General Practices
One General Practice with an attached psychiatric social worker, a visiting psychiatrist & a clinical psychologist at the health centre
21 primary care practices
Using statewide telephone screening, identified and followed a cohort with a current major depression who made one or more visits to a primary care physician during the six months following baseline
One general medical clinic & two family practice clinics
One university-based family practice clinic
Health centre, primary health care unit, outpatient clinic, GP offices & private clinics, family practice, neighbourhood hospital & district hospital, primary care clinic
Selection of primary care setting
Not stated
Not stated
Not stated
Not stated
Not stated
Not stated
Not stated
Previous successful WHO collaboration, research experience in primary care, access to patient population
Recruitment
Waiting room
Consecutive patients
All surgery attenders
Consecutive patients
Statewide telephone screening, those who were depressed invited for telephone interview
Patients completed a depression screening instrument presented to them by receptionist
Patients introduced to RA by family physician at end of clinical visit
Consecutive patients
Screen for depression
CES-D
Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)
GHQ-28
3-item screen for major depression & dysthymia
Burnam screener
CES-D
CES-D
GHQ-12
Exclusion criteria
Not stated
Inadequate knowledge of English, severely distressed & first time attenders
Not meeting DSM-III-R criteria for generalised anxiety, panic or depressive disorder
No access to a telephone
Bereaved, manic, acutely suicidal or denied depressive symptoms
Contact with clinics during the six months prior to index assessment
Being seen by the Duke Student Health Service, employees of the Department of Community & Family Medicine, or too ill physically
< 18 years, > 65 years, too ill, no fixed address, did not come for a medical consultation, communication problem, no consent
Criteria for inclusion in cohort
Major depression
BDI ≥ 10
Met DSM-III-R criteria for general anxiety, panic or depressive disorder
Major depression
Major depression
CES-D ≥ 16
CES-D ≥ 16 + random sample of CES-D <16
Current psychiatric disorder at baseline diagnostic assessment & 20% random sample
Measurement of depression at baseline
SCID, CES-D, Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D)
past & current depression, PSE, Zung Depression Scale (ZDS) & 9 visual analogue scales
Psychiatric Assessment Schedule (PAS), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), Clinical Anxiety Scale (CAS)
Depression Outcome Module (DOS), Inventory to Diagnose Depression (IDD)
(Diagnostic Interview Schedule) DIS
DIS
DIS, CES-D
CIDI-Primary Health Care, GHQ-28
Cohort (% female)
81 from primary care (% not stated)
35 (86%)
182 with depressive, anxiety or panic disorder [Reports on 148 (67% female) followed up]
47 (81%)
162 (% not stated)
294 (76%)
213 (range 61–83% across depression categories)
1174 (74%)
Duration of follow-up
9 months
20 weeks
6 months
5 months
12 months
6 months
12 months
12 months
Other comorbidity measured
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Care received examined
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Definition of depression outcome
Improvement in HAM-D score
improvement in Zung scores
Change in HDRS scores, changes in CAS scores & reduction in index of definition level
Remission from major depression
Remission: ≤ 2 of 9 DIS criteria for major depression met within last 2 weeks.
Resolution of major depressive disorder
Improvement i.e. moved to a less severe diagnostic category
Presence or absence of a depressive episode

Gilchrist and Gunn BMC Family Practice 2007 8:28   doi:10.1186/1471-2296-8-28