SynthesisThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2013
Assessing depression severity using the UK Quality and Outcomes Framework depression indicators: a systematic review.
Synthesis in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Routine use of patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) for improving treatment of common mental health disorders in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2016Pooled it
- Reporting standards for guideline-based performance measures.Implementation science : IS · 2016Pooled it
- Patient-reported outcome measures for monitoring primary care patients with depression: the PROMDEP cluster RCT and economic evaluation.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2024Trial
- Patient-reported outcome measures for monitoring primary care patients with depression: PROMDEP feasibility randomised trial.BMJ open · 2017Trial
- Impacts of Social Environments on Neighborhood Depression Incidence: Fully Accounting for Spatial Effects.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Article
- Article
- Case finding and screening clinical utility of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9 and PHQ-2) for depression in primary care: a diagnostic meta-analysis of 40 studies.BJPsych open · 2016Review
- Explaining the variation between practices in the duration of new antidepressant treatment: a database cohort study in primary care.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2015Article
- Brief screening questions for depression in chiropractic patients with low back pain: identification of potentially useful questions and test of their predictive capacity.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2014Article
- Use of PHQ-9 scores to guide treatment decisions in primary care.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2013Article
- Depression as a culture-bound syndrome: implications for primary care.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDepression is a major cause of chronic ill-health and is managed in primary care. Indicators on depression severity assessment were introduced into the UK Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) in 2006 and 2009. QOF is a pay-for-performance scheme and indicators should have evidence to support their use; potential unintended consequences should also have been considered.
aimTo review the effectiveness of routine assessment of depression severity using structured tools in primary care, and to determine the views of GPs and patients regarding their use.
designSystematic review.
methodStudies were identified by searching electronic databases; study selection, data abstraction, and quality assessment were carried out by one reviewer, with checks from other authors and GRADE (grading of recommendations, assessment, development and evaluation) tables completed for included effectiveness studies.
resultsEight studies met the eligibility criteria. There was very low-quality evidence that assessing severity in a structured way at diagnosis using a validated tool led to interventions that were appropriate to the severity of depression. Patients and GPs had different perceptions of the assessment of depression at diagnosis, with patients being more positive. GPs highlighted unintended consequences. There was low-quality evidence that structured assessment at follow-up led to increased rates of remission and response, but changes to management were not seen. Patients used this assessment to measure their own response to treatment.
conclusionAny estimate of the effect of structured assessment of depression severity in UK general practice is uncertain. GPs consider routine use of questionnaires as incentivised by the QOF has unintended consequences, which could adversely affect patient care.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.