Objectives: This up-to-date systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to examine the predictive validity of the Geriatric Depression Scale-15 (GDS-15) for screening depression in older adults aged over 65 years.
Methods: Electronic searches were performed on the MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and PsycINFO database using the following keywords: depression, depressive disorder, major, geriatric depression scale, and geriatric depression scale short. The Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 was applied to assess the risk of bias in diagnostic studies.
Results: Thirty-one studies that included 8,897 older adults were analyzed. The pooled sensitivity of the GDS-15 was 0.80 (95% CI:0.78 to 0.82), its pooled specificity was 0.79 (95% CI:0.78 to 0.80), the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.89 (SE = 0.01) and the Q* value was 0.82 (SE = 0.01). The subgroup analysis revealed that the pooled sensitivity and specificity of the GDS-15 were higher in older adults with normal cognitive function than in those with cognitive impairment.
Conclusions: These finding suggest that the GDS-15 may be more accurate for screening depression in older adults with normal cognitive function.
Clinical implications: The utility the GDS-15 may be restricted because its diagnostic accuracy is slightly lower among older adults with cognitive impairment.
Keywords: Depression; aged; mass screening; sensitivity and specificity; systematic review.