Screening of depression in patients with diabetes mellitus

Excerpt

To the Editor: The link between depression and diabetes, late complications and glycaemic control is well established [1, 2, 3]. In routine care, a considerable proportion of patients with depression remains undetected and untreated [4, 5]. As diabetes requires self management, depression leads to a higher risk of diabetic late complications. The WHO (five) Well-Being Index (WB5) is a short screening instrument for the detection of depression in the general population. This instrument is also recommended in the WHO DiabCare Basic Information Sheet (BIS). WB5 was developed within the DepCare [6] project as a first-line low-mood screening instrument for depression. It is a short five-item questionnaire, whereby every answer is given a score between 0 and 5, yielding a raw score of between 0 and 25. A raw score below 13 indicates poor well-being and is considered to be an indicator of depression, which should be confirmed using the Major (ICD-10) Depression Inventory and through specific patient interviews [6]. WB5 has been evaluated in elderly patients, and showed adequate internal and external validity [7]. …