ArticleBMC psychiatry2016
Assessment of depression severity with the PHQ-9 in cancer patients and in the general population.
Article in BMC psychiatry, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 133 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
133 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Development of depression in patients with oropharyngeal cancer: a systematic review.Acta otorhinolaryngologica Italica : organo ufficiale della Societa italiana di otorinolaringologia e chirurgia cervico-facciale · 2026Pooled it
- Prevalence of depression in patients with advanced cancer receiving palliative care: a meta-analysis of self-report instruments.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- The prevalence of depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbances in COVID-19 patients: a meta-analysis.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2021Pooled it
- Effect of subanesthetic dose esketamine on anxiety and depression in patients with breast cancer after surgery: a randomized controlled, double-blind study.BMC psychiatry · 2026Trial
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- Wearable Respiratory Monitoring and Feedback for Chronic Pain in Adult Survivors of Childhood Cancer: A Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial From the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study.JCO clinical cancer informatics · 2020Trial
- Randomized Trial of a Tailored Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Mobile Application for Anxiety in Patients with Incurable Cancer.The oncologist · 2019Trial
- Couple-focused interventions for men with localized prostate cancer and their spouses: A randomized clinical trial.British journal of health psychology · 2019Trial
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia Reduces Depression in Cancer Survivors.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2019Trial
- Trial
- Role of Patient Coping Strategies in Understanding the Effects of Early Palliative Care on Quality of Life and Mood.Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2018Trial
- Occurrence and Severity of Mental Health Disorders Among Patients Treated for Malignant Neoplasms: A Narrative Review with Preliminary Quantitative Synthesis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Adapting a mental health program for people with multiple myeloma and smouldering myeloma: a consumer-informed feasibility study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- Validation of the Arabic Version of Patient Health Questionnaire-9 in Omani and Yemeni Patients With Chronic Physical Diseases.International journal of methods in psychiatric research · 2026Article
- Individual and Situational Predictors of Threatening Dream Content During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of sleep research · 2026Article
- Psychometric properties of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 in Mexican cancer patients.Palliative & supportive care · 2026Article
- Expert Consensus on Self-Reported Physical, Nutritional, and Psychological Screening Tools for Prehabilitation in Gastrointestinal Cancer Surgery: An International Delphi Study.Annals of surgical oncology · 2026Article
- Psychometric Validation of the PHQ-9 in Ostomy Patients and Their Informal Caregivers: Evidence From A European Multicenter Study.Nursing open · 2026Observational
- Associations of 24-h movement behaviors with depressive symptoms among cancer survivors: findings from the NHANES 2011-2014.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2026Article
73 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe Patient Health Questionnaire PHQ-9 is a widely used instrument to screen for depression in clinical research. The first aim of this study was to psychometrically test the PHQ-9 in a large sample of cancer patients. The second aim was to calculate unbiased estimates of the depression burden for several cancer groups taking into account age and gender distributions.
methodsA sample of 2,059 cancer patients with varying diagnoses were examined in this study six months after discharge from a rehabilitation clinic. A representative sample of 2,693 people from the general population served as controls. Expected PHQ-9 mean scores of the general population sample, regressed on age and gender, were calculated to enable a fair comparison of different groups of cancer patients.
resultsWhile the reliability (Cronbach's alpha) for the PHQ-9 scale was good (alpha ≥ 0.84), the CFA fit indices of the one-dimensional solution were unsatisfactory in the patients' sample. The factorial analysis confirmed two factors. PHQ-9 mean scores for 15 types of cancer are given, ranging from 4.0 (prostate) to 8.2 (thyroid gland). Differences between expected mean scores (derived from the general population) and raw mean scores of the cancer subsamples are reported that provide a better estimate of the depression burden.
conclusionsThe results confirmed that the PHQ-9 performs well in testing depression in cancer patients. Regression coefficients can be used for performing unbiased comparisons among cancer groups, not only for this study. The burden of patients with testis cancer and Hodgkin lymphoma is underestimated when age and gender are not taken into account.
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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.