Diagnostic accuracy of the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale parent report among adolescent psychiatric outpatients

• Published in: Nordic journal of psychiatry 2018-01, Vol.72 (3), p.184-190
• Main Authors: Torres Soler, C., Olofsdotter, S., Vadlin, S., Ramklint, M., Nilsson, K. W., Sonnby, K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: adolescents; depresjon; Depression; diagnostikk; parents; Psychiatry; Psykiatri; questionnaire; ungdom; validation study
• ISSN: 0803-9488; 1502-4725; 1502-4725
• DOI: 10.1080/08039488.2017.1414873

Background: The diagnostic accuracy of the parent report of the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS-P) for the screening of major depressive disorder (MDD) in adolescents has not been evaluated. Aim: The aim was to explore the psychometric properties and diagnostic accuracy of the MADRS-P in general child and adolescent psychiatric outpatient services in Sweden. Method: The study was a validation and a diagnostic accuracy study. Consecutive adolescent psychiatric patients (n = 101, 45 males, mean age 15 years) were assessed with a diagnostic interview, the Kiddie Schedule of Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children - Present and Lifetime version (K-SADS-PL), as a reference test. Thereafter, their parents reported on the MADRS-P. Both categorical MDD diagnoses and dimensional MDD symptom severity scores were obtained from the K-SADS-PL. Results: The internal consistency of the MADRS-P, measured with Cronbach's alpha, was 0.846. The concurrent validity, assessed by Spearman's rho as a correlation between the K-SADS MDD symptom severity score and the MADRS-P score, was 0.580. The area under the curve in a receiver operating characteristic analysis for all participants was 0.786 (95% confidence interval 0.694-0.877, p