Brief report Base rates for panic and depression according to the Brief Patient Health Questionnaire: a population-based study Winfried Rief a, * , Alexandra Nanke a , Antje Klaiberg b , Elmar Braehler b a Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Philipps University of Marburg, Gutenbergstr. 18, 35032 Marburg, Germany b Medical Faculty, University of Leipzig, Germany Received 8 September 2003; received in revised form 11 November 2003; accepted 13 November 2003 Abstract Background: Recently published studies analyzing sensitivity and specificity scores have demonstrated that the brief version of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ [J. Am. Med. Assoc. 282 (1999) 1734]) is a useful tool for the detection of panic disorder and depression. Methods: We aimed to get normative data for the brief PHQ in a representative population- based sample. Sociodemographic data and PHQ data from 2066 subjects were included. Results: Base rates for PHQ criteria of major depression were 3.8% with the typical 1:2 ratio between males and females (frequency of minor depressive forms: 9.2%). Normative data for the depression total scores were reported. Marital status, education and family income were significantly associated with depression, even after controlling for age and sex. For panic disorder, base rates were 1.8%; age, gender, and marital status were significant predictors. Frequency for panic attacks as a less restrictively defined version were 4.5%. Conclusions: The normative data provide a framework for the interpretation of depression and panic scores of the PHQ. D 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ); Depression; Panic disorder; Sociodemographic risk factors Different studies have shown that physicians’ recognition of panic and depressive syndromes is quite poor (e.g., sensitivity of GPs for the detection of depression: 40%; sensitivity for the detection of panic: 15%; Lo ¨we et al., in press-a;Lo ¨we et al.,in press-b). Therefore, procedures are needed to im- prove the detection of mental disorders in health care settings. In their PRIME-MD investigations, Spitzer et al. (1999) have introduced a self-rating scale called brief Patient Health Questionnaire, which should allow an improved recognition of panic and depression in primary care. While the comprehensive version of the PHQ also covers aspects of somatization, eating disorder and drug abuse, the brief version of the PHQ focuses on panic and depression. The PHQ has demonstrated good validity and reliability (Spitzer et al., 1999). Lo ¨we et al. demon- strated that the PHQ-9 (which is the depression part) showed the best characteristics in comparison with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) as well as the WHO well-being index (WBI-5) (Lo ¨we 0165-0327/$ - see front matter D 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2003.11.006 * Corresponding author. E-mail address: rief@staff.uni-marburg.de (W. Rief). www.elsevier.com/locate/jad Journal of Affective Disorders 82 (2004) 271 – 276