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The impact of clinical significance criteria on subthreshold depression prevalence rates
Author(s) -
Baumeister H.,
Morar V.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.2008.01287.x
Subject(s) - operationalization , depression (economics) , medicine , mental health , demography , psychiatry , philosophy , epistemology , sociology , economics , macroeconomics
Objective: To examine and compare prevalence rates of subthreshold depression (SD) based on symptom count only as well as additional categorically and dimensionally operationalized clinical significance (CS) criteria. Method: Data were drawn from the German National Health Survey ( n = 4181). DSM‐IV‐SD and categorically defined CS criteria were operationalized by means of the Munich‐Composite International Diagnostic Interview, dimensionally defined CS criteria by means of the SF‐36‐mental component summary score (MCS) Scale. Results: Four‐week and 12‐month prevalence rates of SD ranged from 0.7% (MCS‐CS criteria) to 1.8% (symptom count) and 1.8% to 6.8% respectively. Prevalence rates of SD were lower than those of Major Depression (5.7% and 10.9%). Within linear regression models, the association between SD and health care utilization variables remained insignificant. Conclusion: Although prevalences rates of SD are bound to the CS criterion used, they are lower than for Major Depression. The use of a CS criterion is recommended to avoid pathologizing human behavior.