Depression was measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), a nine-item screening instrument that asks questions about the frequency of symptoms of depression over the past 2 weeks. A final follow-up question assesses the overall impairment of the depressive symptoms. Response categories "not at all," "several days," "more than half the days" and "nearly every day" were given a score ranging from 0 to 3. A total score was calculated ranging from 0 to 27. A score of 10 or higher has been well validated and is commonly used in clinical studies to define depression. Other methods for defining depression based on this instrument are also used.
Mobile examination center participants 12 years and older were eligible. No proxies were permitted to answer these questions. Only data from youths aged 12-17 years are included in this restricted data file. A public use data file DPQ_G is available for adults 18+ years.
These questions were asked by trained interviewers in Spanish or English using the Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) system during the MEC private interview..
The CAPI system is programmed with built-in consistency checks to reduce data entry errors. CAPI also uses online help screens to assist interviewers in defining key terms used in the questionnaire.
Approximately 5% of the interviews were recorded and reviewed for quality control purposes.
Edits were made to ensure the completeness, consistency and analytic usefulness of the data.
Depression and depression severity have been defined using various methods in the scientific literature. Researchers may want to pay special attention to records with item non-response (questions that have missing, “don’t know” or “refusal” responses) in deriving a score or severity measure.
MEC exam sample weights should be used for the analyses.
Please refer to the NHANES Analytic Guidelines and the on-line NHANES Tutorial for further details on the use of sample weights and other analytic issues.
Code or Value | Value Description | Count | Cumulative | Skip to Item |
---|---|---|---|---|
0 | Not at all | 1183 | 1183 | |
1 | Several days | 255 | 1438 | |
2 | More than half the days | 51 | 1489 | |
3 | Nearly every day | 25 | 1514 | |
7 | Refused | 0 | 1514 | |
9 | Don't know | 0 | 1514 | |
. | Missing | 132 | 1646 |
Code or Value | Value Description | Count | Cumulative | Skip to Item |
---|---|---|---|---|
0 | Not at all | 1185 | 1185 | |
1 | Several days | 269 | 1454 | |
2 | More than half the days | 39 | 1493 | |
3 | Nearly every day | 21 | 1514 | |
7 | Refused | 0 | 1514 | |
9 | Don't know | 0 | 1514 | |
. | Missing | 132 | 1646 |
Code or Value | Value Description | Count | Cumulative | Skip to Item |
---|---|---|---|---|
0 | Not at all | 1015 | 1015 | |
1 | Several days | 381 | 1396 | |
2 | More than half the days | 66 | 1462 | |
3 | Nearly every day | 52 | 1514 | |
7 | Refused | 0 | 1514 | |
9 | Don't know | 0 | 1514 | |
. | Missing | 132 | 1646 |
Code or Value | Value Description | Count | Cumulative | Skip to Item |
---|---|---|---|---|
0 | Not at all | 833 | 833 | |
1 | Several days | 546 | 1379 | |
2 | More than half the days | 86 | 1465 | |
3 | Nearly every day | 49 | 1514 | |
7 | Refused | 0 | 1514 | |
9 | Don't know | 0 | 1514 | |
. | Missing | 132 | 1646 |
Code or Value | Value Description | Count | Cumulative | Skip to Item |
---|---|---|---|---|
0 | Not at all | 1247 | 1247 | |
1 | Several days | 213 | 1460 | |
2 | More than half the days | 33 | 1493 | |
3 | Nearly every day | 21 | 1514 | |
7 | Refused | 0 | 1514 | |
9 | Don't know | 0 | 1514 | |
. | Missing | 132 | 1646 |
Code or Value | Value Description | Count | Cumulative | Skip to Item |
---|---|---|---|---|
0 | Not at all | 1291 | 1291 | |
1 | Several days | 172 | 1463 | |
2 | More than half the days | 32 | 1495 | |
3 | Nearly every day | 19 | 1514 | |
7 | Refused | 0 | 1514 | |
9 | Don't know | 0 | 1514 | |
. | Missing | 132 | 1646 |
Code or Value | Value Description | Count | Cumulative | Skip to Item |
---|---|---|---|---|
0 | Not at all | 1179 | 1179 | |
1 | Several days | 271 | 1450 | |
2 | More than half the days | 35 | 1485 | |
3 | Nearly every day | 29 | 1514 | |
7 | Refused | 0 | 1514 | |
9 | Don't know | 0 | 1514 | |
. | Missing | 132 | 1646 |
Code or Value | Value Description | Count | Cumulative | Skip to Item |
---|---|---|---|---|
0 | Not at all | 1359 | 1359 | |
1 | Several days | 122 | 1481 | |
2 | More than half the days | 18 | 1499 | |
3 | Nearly every day | 14 | 1513 | |
7 | Refused | 0 | 1513 | |
9 | Don't know | 1 | 1514 | |
. | Missing | 132 | 1646 |
Code or Value | Value Description | Count | Cumulative | Skip to Item |
---|---|---|---|---|
0 | Not at all | 1424 | 1424 | |
1 | Several days | 72 | 1496 | |
2 | More than half the days | 12 | 1508 | |
3 | Nearly every day | 6 | 1514 | |
7 | Refused | 0 | 1514 | |
9 | Don't know | 0 | 1514 | |
. | Missing | 132 | 1646 |
Code or Value | Value Description | Count | Cumulative | Skip to Item |
---|---|---|---|---|
0 | Not at all difficult | 797 | 797 | |
1 | Somewhat difficult | 224 | 1021 | |
2 | Very difficult | 20 | 1041 | |
3 | Extremely difficult | 5 | 1046 | |
7 | Refused | 0 | 1046 | |
9 | Don't know | 0 | 1046 | |
. | Missing | 600 | 1646 |