Low prevalence of depressive disorder in ambulatory advanced cancer patients using the Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN 2.1)

Depressive disorder is assumed to be highly prevalent in advanced cancer patients, but the diagnosis of depressive disorder in patients with advanced cancer is difficult. The more robust the assessment instrument to diagnose depressive disorder is, the lower the reported prevalence of depressive disorder in advanced cancer patients. This study confirms a low prevalence of depressive disorder (3%) in 64 advanced cancer outpatients using a robust structured clinical assessment (SCAN 2.1). Furthermore, in this article we discuss possible implications of using predefined psychiatric labeling in the assessment of mood symptoms in advanced cancer patients.