Trial reportEpidemiology and psychiatric sciences2026
Evaluating context effects on PHQ-8 somatic item scores among people with a chronic medical condition: a scleroderma patient-centred intervention network randomised experiment.
Trial report in Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
17 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimsAssessing depression symptoms in people with a chronic illness is challenging due to possible bias from overlapping somatic symptoms associated with both depression and chronic illnesses. Previous studies, however, have found that people with a chronic illness do not report more somatic symptoms on depression measures than people without a chronic illness with similar levels of mood and cognitive symptoms. The reason for this surprising finding is unknown. Our primary objective was to evaluate differences in mean sum scores of Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8) somatic symptom items (sleep disturbances, fatigue, appetite changes) in people with a chronic illness when the items were administered outside the context of a depression questionnaire versus as part of the PHQ-8. Secondary objectives were to evaluate individual somatic item scores. We hypothesised that people who completed somatic items outside of a depression assessment would have significantly higher scores than those who completed items as part of a depression assessment.
methodsWe conducted a randomised controlled experiment within the Scleroderma Patient-centred Intervention Network (SPIN) Cohort, a multinational cohort of people with systemic sclerosis. SPIN Cohort participants were randomly allocated to complete the PHQ-8 with somatic items (sleep disturbances, fatigue, appetite changes) presented separately from psychological items and without any indication that they were part of a depression questionnaire (Reordered Items arm) or in standard format (Standard PHQ-8 arm). Participants were automatically randomised when they logged into the SPIN Cohort platform to complete routine research assessments. The primary outcome was the mean sum score of PHQ-8 somatic items. Secondary outcomes were the mean scores of individual somatic items. Differences were assessed using between-groups
resultsIn total, 851 participants were included (
conclusionsWe did not find evidence that responses to PHQ-8 somatic items were influenced by whether participants were aware they were responding to items about depression. This finding supports the validity of self-reported questionnaires for depression symptom assessment in people with chronic medical conditions.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.