Screening performance of K6/K10 and other screening instruments for mood and anxiety disorders in Japan

This study aimed to establish the screening performance and optimal cut-off points for the Japanese version of Kessler (K)6, K10 and the Depression and Suicide Screen (DSS).

A self-report questionnaire including K6, K10 and DSS, as well as the Center for Epidemiologic Studies - Depression Scale (CES-D), was administered to a random sample of community residents in Japan (non-cases, n = 147) and psychiatric outpatients diagnosed with mood or anxiety disorders according to DSM-IV (cases, n = 17). A receiver-operator characteristics (ROC) curve was drawn to estimate the area under the curve (AUC), the sensitivity, and specificity with the optimal cut-off points for K6, K10, and DSS, which were then compared with those of CES-D. The community sample was also asked to rate each measure on a scale from 'very easy' to 'very hard' to use.