Prevalence of clinical (major) depression in general practice using the DSM-IV version of PRIME-MD

INTRODUCTION: PRIME-MD (Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorder) has been developed to detect the most frequent mental disorders in general practice. METHOD: A prevalence study with the Danish PRIME-MD's module for major depression was carried out by general practitioners. In total, 16 practices and 2501 patients were involved in the study. RESULTS: The patient questionnaire part of the PRIME-MD was completed by more than 95% of the patients, indicating a high applicability. Around 8% of all patients included suffered from major depression. Of these, the ratio of females to males was 2:1. Three factors were identified in the questionnaire: depression, psychosomatic distress, and alcohol use. Compared to the non-depressed patients, the patients with major depression evaluated their health condition as being considerably impaired. CONCLUSION: PRIME-MD is highly applicable in general practice. ( Int J Psych Clin Pract 2001; 5:49-54)