Table 1. Patient characteristics, and prevalence of moderate-to-severe depressive symptoms
GroupPart of total (N’)Prevalence of PHQ-9≥10 in groupNumbers answered on item
Patient answers N % (N/N) n % (n/N )
Total patient samples: 5276011.4%
Part 1 total:3834411.5%
Part 1 complete sets3694311.7%
Part 1 GP parts missing141N/A
Part 2 :1441611.1%
Sex
Female29856.5%4214.1% (of 298)527
Male22943.5%187.9% (of 229)527
Age, years
65–6914026.6%1812.9% (of 140)527
70–7414427.3%139.0% (of 144)527
75–7912523.7%1411.2% (of 125)527
80–847514.2%912.0% (of 75)527
≥85438.2%614.0% (of 43)527
Marital status
Married or cohabitant33763.9%3610.7% (of 337)520
Widowed10620.1%1716.0% (of 106)520
Divorced499.3%48.9% (of 49)520
None336.3%39.1% (of 33)520
Various
Live near (grand)children40178.0%5413.5% (of 401)514
Foreign native language214.1%628.6% (of 21)515
Smokes5310.3%1630.2% (of 53)513
Hypnotics13225.6%2518.9% (of 132)516
Anxiolytics5410.5%1935.2% (of 54)516
Home-based nursing service336.4%1236.4% (of 33)516
Patient reported symptoms
SHC ≥20 (9 = median)8916.9%5923.2% (of 254)526
Probable general anxiety disorder:
GAD-7≥10407.6%2972.5% (of 40)527
N/A
GPs answers (total n = 369):
GP stated consultation topics N % (N/N’) n % (n/N) (N’)
Routine control13436.6%86.0% (of 134)369
Somatic problem21458.0%2411.2% (of 214)369
Pain problem6116.5%1016.4% (of 61)369
Mental health problem34 9.2% 1544.1% (of 34)369
Social or relational problem184.9%738.9% (of 18)369
Sleep problem184.9%527.8% (of 18)369
Consultation frequency
Frequent patient (≥ x5/year)16346.4%2817.2% (of 163)351
Occasionally (2–4 x/year)14039.9%75.0% (of 140)351
Seldom (0–1 x/year)4813.7%48.3% (of 48)351
  • GAD-7 = General Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale. PHQ-9 = Patient Health Questionnaire-9. SHC = subjective health complaints.

  • Missing data: 7 patients did not answer demographic questions, but did complete the PHQ-9 and had completed GP forms. These were, therefore, included in analysis.