Calculators / Depression and mood
GDS-15
Geriatric Depression Scale, short form. Depression screening in older adults.
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The GDS-15 calculator is in the Library.
Every rating scale calculator comes with the Library, along with the prescribing guides, medication handouts, DSM-5 criteria and sheets, and the Guide Builder.
Use it for
- Screening adults 65 and older for depression in primary care, clinics, nursing homes and hospitals.
- Following mood over time in older patients.
- Starting a conversation about mood in someone who may under-report it.
Do not use it for
- Diagnosing depression. A positive screen needs a clinical interview.
- Moderate to severe dementia. The scale needs reliable self-report. Use the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia.
- Judging suicide risk. There is no suicide item.
Ask the person to choose the best answer for how they have felt over the past week. Read the questions aloud if they have trouble reading. Each question is answered yes or no.
GDS-15
Answer the questions to see the result.
This calculator adds up the score in your browser. Nothing you enter is stored or sent.
More about the GDS-15
About the GDS-15What it is and what it is for
The Geriatric Depression Scale was designed for older adults, and the 15-item short form (Sheikh and Yesavage, 1986) is the one most often used. Each item is a yes or no question about how the person has felt over the past week. It leaves out many somatic items that overlap with medical illness in older people, and asks about mood, interest, hope and worth.
One point is given for each answer that points to depression. For ten of the items that answer is yes. For five items it is no. The total runs from 0 to 15. A score of 5 or more is the usual screening cutoff for probable depression.
How to use itGiving it and scoring it
Ask each question aloud or have the person circle the answer. Score 1 point for each answer that points to depression: yes on items 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14 and 15, and no on items 1, 5, 7, 11 and 13. This page does the scoring from the answer chosen.
A total of 5 or more is the usual cutoff.
Interpreting the scoreScore ranges and what they suggest
| Score | What it suggests | Usual response |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 4 | Not suggestive of depressionBelow the screening cutoff. | No further evaluation from the score alone. Repeat if the picture changes. |
| 5 to 9 | Suggests mild depressionAt or above the usual screening cutoff of 5. | Clinical interview. Look for medical, medication and cognitive contributors. |
| 10 to 15 | Suggests moderate to severe depressionLikely depression. | Clinical evaluation soon, with a risk assessment and a treatment plan. |
Bands follow McDowell and Newell (1996). Some sources split the upper range further, such as 5 to 8, 9 to 11 and 12 to 15, but the finer bands do not have validation behind them. Some programs use 6 as the cutoff for fewer false positives.
Pearls and pitfallsTips and common mistakes
- A score of 5 or more has been the most widely validated cutoff. A cutoff of 6 reduces false positives.
- Use the original wording. The short form was designed for yes-no answers. Do not turn it into a rating scale.
- Pair it with a cognitive screen. If the person cannot answer reliably, use an observer-rated scale.
- Pain, grief and loneliness raise the score and are all worth asking about in their own right.
EvidenceAccuracy and reliability
- The 15-item short form was derived from the 30-item scale by Sheikh and Yesavage (1986), keeping the items that correlated best with total scores. It correlated closely with the long form.
- Meta-analyses of the GDS-15 place the best cutoff around 5 or 6, with sensitivity and specificity in the range of about 0.7 to 0.9. Accuracy is lower in people with cognitive impairment.
- It has been validated in community, primary care, hospital and nursing home settings, and in many languages.
Source, license and referencesWhere it comes from
The Geriatric Depression Scale was developed by Jerome Yesavage, T. L. Brink and colleagues and is in the public domain. Stanford maintains the official forms and translations at web.stanford.edu/~yesavage/GDS.html.
- Yesavage JA, Brink TL, Rose TL, et al. Development and validation of a geriatric depression screening scale: a preliminary report. J Psychiatr Res. 1982-83;17(1):37-49.
- Sheikh JI, Yesavage JA. Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS): recent evidence and development of a shorter version. Clin Gerontol. 1986;5(1-2):165-173.
- McDowell I, Newell C. Measuring Health: A Guide to Rating Scales and Questionnaires. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press; 1996.
- Mitchell AJ, Bird V, Rizzo M, Meader N. Diagnostic validity and added value of the Geriatric Depression Scale for depression in primary care: a meta-analysis of GDS30 and GDS15. J Affect Disord. 2010;125(1-3):10-17.