Derivation of a 3-Item Patient Health Questionnaire as a Shortened Survey to Capture Depressive Symptoms

Can a shorter set of questions be used to estimate depressive symptom severity in the general population?In this survey study of 96 234 US adults, a reduced set of 3 items was derived from (and remained highly correlated with) the full 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ). The shorter questionnaire showed utility in capturing depressive symptoms overall and across population subgroups.The findings suggest that the 3-item PHQ could enable more widespread and efficient incorporation of depressive symptom measurement in general population samples.

Corresponding Author: Roy H. Perlis, MD, MSc, Massachusetts General Hospital, 185 Cambridge St, 6th Floor, Boston, MA 02114 (rperlis@mgh.harvard.edu).

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