Screening for Depression in Adults: A Summary of the Evidence for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force

TLDR: An updated systematic review for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force found that several short, accurate, and easy-to-use instruments for detecting depression are available and appear to perform as well as longer instruments.

Abstract: for suicide in primary care reduces morbidity and mortality. The remainder of the review focused on the questions of reliable screening tests for suicide risk and the effectiveness of interventions to decrease depression, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts or completion. One screening study provided limited evidence for the accuracy of suicide screening in a primary care setting. Intervention studies provided fair and mixed evidence that treating those at risk for suicide reduces the number of suicide attempts or completions. The evidence suggests mild to moderate improvement for interventions addressing intermediate outcomes such as suicidal ideation, decreased depressive severity, decreased hopelessness, or improved level of function. Conclusion: Because of the complexity of studying the risk for suicide and the paucity of well-designed research studies, only limited evidence guides the primary care clinician’s assessment and management of suicide risk.