Although screening for depression in primary care is recommended by US guidelines, there is no direct evidence that it improves outcomes. For that reason, guidelines in other countries, such as Canada, Germany, and the UK, have not advised screening. The previous Canadian guidelines considered this a weak recommendation, however, because it was due to lack of evidence, rather than significant evidence against screening.
Now, the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care has updated their guidelines with new information showing no benefit for screening, and they now consider it to be a strong recommendation.
“In the judgment of the task force, the recommendation against screening of all adults aged 18 years and older for depression using a questionnaire is strong, based on moderate-certainty evidence that screening probably has little to no impact on symptoms of depression or health-related quality of life from 1 trial, and very uncertain evidence on the impact of screening from 2 other trials.”
The task force was led by Eddy Lang at the University of Calgary, and the recommendation was published in CMAJ (the Canadian Medical Association Journal).
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Peter Simons was an academic researcher in psychology. Now, as a science writer, he tries to provide the layperson with a view into the sometimes inscrutable world of psychiatric research. As an editor for blogs and personal stories at Mad in America, he prizes the accounts of those with lived experience of the psychiatric system and shares alternatives to the biomedical model.