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Background: The Montgomery Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) is a frequently used observer-rated depression scale. In the present study, a telephonic rating was compared with a face-to-face rating in 66 primary care patients with minor or mild-major depression. The aim of the present study was to assess the validity of the administration by telephone. Additional objective was to study the validity of the first item, 'apparent sadness', the only item purely based on observation. Methods: The present study was a validity study. During an in-person interview at the patient's home a trained interviewer administered the MADRS. A few days later the MADRS was administered again, but now by telephone and by a different interviewer. The validity of the telephone rating was calculated through the appropriate intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Results: Mean total score on the in-person administration was 24.0 (SD = 11.1), and on the telephone administration 23.5 (SD = 10.4). The ICC for the full scale was 0.65. Homogeneity analysis showed that the observation item 'apparent sadness' fitted well into the scale. Conclusion: The full MADRS, including the observation item 'apparent sadness', can be administered reliably by telephone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The rapid digitalization of medical practice has attracted growing interest in developing software applications for clinical guidelines and explicit screening tools to detect potentially inappropriate prescribing, such as STOPP/START criteria. The aim of the current study was to develop and provide logically unambiguous algorithms of STOPP/START criteria version 2, encoded with international disease and medication classification codes, to facilitate the development of software applications for multiple purposes.Methods: A four round multidisciplinary consensus and validation procedure was conducted to develop implementable coded algorithms for software applications of STOPP/START criteria version 2, based on ICD, ICPC, LOINC and ATC classification databases.Results: Consensus was reached for all 34 START criteria and 76 out of 80 STOPP criteria. The resulting 110 algorithms, modeled as inference rules in decision tables, are provided as supplementary data.Conclusion: This is the first study providing implementable algorithms for software applications based on STOPP/START version 2, validated in a computer decision support system. These algorithms could serve as a template for applying STOPP/START criteria version 2 to any software application, allowing for adaptations of the included ICD, ICPC and ATC codes and changing the cut-off levels for laboratory measurements to match local guidelines or clinical expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]