Comparing the Use of the Taiwanese Depression Questionnaire and Beck Depression Inventory for Screening Depression in Patients with Chronic Pain

Background: Studies have shown that the validity of self-reported depression questionnairesmay be influenced by somatic symptoms such as chronic pain. Thepurpose of this study was to compare the validity of two self-reported questionnaires,the Taiwanese Depression Questionnaire (TDQ) and the BeckDepression Inventory (BDI), for screening depression in patients with chronicpain.Methods: One hundred patients with chronic pain were enrolled and assessed using theTDQ, BDI, McGill Pain Questionnaire, and Structured Clinical Interview forDSM-III-R. Seventy-three of them were diagnosed with depressive disorders.Conventional validity indices of the TDQ and BDI were examined andcompared.Results: Both the TDQ and BDI had satisfactory sensitivity, specificity, positive predictivevalue, and negative predictive value. Our results showed a trend thatthe validity of the TDQ was better than that of the BDI, and the validity ofthe cognitive/affective components of the TDQ was significantly better thanthat of the BDI.Conclusion: Our results suggest that the TDQ is superior to the BDI in detecting depressionin patients with chronic pain in Taiwan.