Abstract
Objective and methods The aim was to evaluate the depression subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-D) by comparing the gender-specific scores with another self-rated measure of mental health (MH), the SF-12 Health Survey, in a large general population ( N=16,116). Results Using a score of 8 as a cut-off point for depression, the odds ratio for depression among men versus women was 1.29 [ P<.0001; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.16–1.43]. This contrasted with the results from the SF-12, in which the women had markedly and significantly poorer scores than men did. The women also reported a higher use of medicine for depression. Two of the seven HADS-D questions, related to interest in personal appearance and the ability to enjoy television, radio, and books, explained 70% of the higher depression scores among men. Conclusion The results suggest that the validity related to gender differences in HADS-D is highly questionable.
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