Key clinical point: The nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) is an effective tool that can be used to help screen for depression in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Major finding: The prevalence of either minor or major depression was 41%. The PHQ-9 had a sensitivity of 64% and a specificity of 94% in picking up minor and major depression among the patients.

Study details: Validation study of 323 patients with diabetes who were screened using the PHQ-9. They also completed a diagnostic interview using the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-IV (SCID).

Disclosures: The authors reported having no conflicts of interest.