ArticleBMJ open2023
Sensitivity and specificity of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9, PHQ-8, PHQ-2) and General Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7, GAD-2) for depression and anxiety diagnosis: a cross-sectional study in a Peruvian hospital population.
Article in BMJ open, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 54 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
54 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) and 2-item (GAD-2) scales for detecting anxiety disorders in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
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- Work-Related Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for racially and economically diverse unemployed persons with social anxiety: A randomized clinical trial.Journal of anxiety disorders · 2024Trial
- Correlations between life course trauma on perinatal outcomes of women on community supervision - a retrospective cross sectional study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Beyond the Individual: The Weight of Social and Structural Determinants of Depression Among Transgender Women Living with HIV in France (ANRS-Trans&HIV).AIDS and behavior · 2026Observational
- Perceived Neighborhood Trust, Health Behaviors, and Metabolic Syndrome Among Middle-Aged and Older Chinese Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Physical frailty, depression and multimorbidity among older adults in Lima, Peru: a cross-sectional study.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Professionalism and mental health in medical and nursing students under prolonged virtual learning: a longitudinal study in Peru.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Usability, Relevance, and User Engagement of a Government-Sponsored and Community Co-Designed Digital Mental Health Website During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Pilot Study on Latino/a/x Adults.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Factors associated with mental health among young adults: Cross-country longitudinal evidence from Ethiopia, India, and Peru.SSM - population health · 2026Article
- Smartphone-based digital phenotyping for detection of high-risk depression and anxiety in Korean community settings.Internet interventions · 2026Article
- Design and Validation of an AI-Assisted Sequential Screening Framework for Psychological Distress in Glaucoma.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Health Outcomes of Women on Community Supervision in South Central Texas During the Perinatal Period.Journal of obstetric, gynecologic, and neonatal nursing : JOGNN · 2026Article
- Psychometric Validation of the Spanish Version of the Luxembourg Workplace Mobbing Scale (LWMS): Structural Equation Modeling, and Item Response Theory Evidence.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The impact of mentalization and psychological flexibility on college students' mental health: A cross-sectional study.Medicine · 2026Article
- Association between a history of frequent masturbation and anxiety/depression in patients with psychogenic erectile dysfunction.Basic and clinical andrology · 2026Article
- Association between comorbid anxiety and depression symptomatology, quality of life, social support and use of mental health services in youth from Bogota, Buenos Aires, and Lima.Journal of affective disorders · 2026Article
- Factorial structure of the patient health questionnaire-9 in long-term survivors of severe COVID-19.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Psychometric properties of the frequency of suicidal ideation inventory (FSII) in pregnant women: evidence from SEM, measurement invariance, and IRT models.Frontiers in global women's health · 2026Article
- Factors associated with insomnia, anxiety, and depression among antenatal women in China: A cross-sectional hospital-based study.PloS one · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThe Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) and Generalised Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD) are widely used screening tools, but their sensitivity and specificity in low-income and middle-income countries are lower than in high-income countries. We conducted a study to determine the sensitivity and specificity of different versions of these scales in a Peruvian hospital population.
designOur study has a cross-sectional design.
settingOur participants are hospitalised patients in a Peruvian hospital. The gold standard was a clinical psychiatric interview following ICD-10 criteria for depression (F32.0, F32.1, F32.2 and F32.3) and anxiety (F41.0 and F41.1).
participantsThe sample included 1347 participants. A total of 334 participants (24.8%) were diagnosed with depression, and 28 participants (2.1%) were diagnosed with anxiety.
resultsThe PHQ-9's≥7 cut-off point showed the highest simultaneous sensitivity and specificity when contrasted against a psychiatric diagnosis of depression. For a similar contrast against the gold standard, the other optimal cut-off points were: ≥7 for the PHQ-8 and ≥2 for the PHQ-2. In particular, the cut-off point ≥8 had good performance for GAD-7 with sensitivity and specificity, and cut-off point ≥10 had lower levels of sensitivity, but higher levels of specificity, compared with the cut-off point of ≥8. Also, we present the sensitivity and specificity values of each cut-off point in PHQ-9, PHQ-8, PHQ-2, GAD-7 and GAD-2. We confirmed the adequacy of a one-dimensional model for the PHQ-9, PHQ-8 and GAD-7, while all PHQ and GAD scales showed good reliability.
conclusionsThe PHQ and GAD have adequate measurement properties in their different versions. We present specific cut-offs for each version.
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