Validation of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) and sociodemographic factors associated with Lebanese depressed patients

OBJECTIVES

The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) is the most commonly used scale for the evaluation of patients' treatments for depression. Since the HDRS has never been validated in Lebanon to our knowledge, our primary objective, therefore, is to investigate the correlation, sensitivity, specificity, as well as the reliability and the validity of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) among Lebanese depressed patients. The secondary objective is to identify sociodemographic factors that would be correlated to depression among our sample.

METHODS

This case-control study, performed between January till May 2017, included 400 patients (200 patients, 200 controls).

RESULTS

The HDRS scale items converged over a solution of four factors, explaining a total of 58.88% of the variance. A high Cronbach's alpha was found for the full scale (0.862). A stepwise linear regression, using the total HDRS score as continuous variable, showed that a low socioeconomic level, divorced participants and a family history of mental disorders would significantly increase the HDRS total score (Beta=4.278; Beta=5.405; and Beta=3.922) respectively. However, having a university level of education would significantly decrease the HDRS total score (Beta=-4.248, P<0.001).

CONCLUSION

This study shows that the Arabic version of the HDRS has promising psychometric properties, making it a good tool to use for the diagnosis of patients with depression. Depression recognition and treatment in general practice with the aim of improving patient outcome and reducing health care expenditure, is definitely warranted.