Disease-specific properties of the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression in patients with stroke, Alzheimer's dementia, and Parkinson's disease

To compare the psychometric properties of the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (Ham-D) in patients with stroke, Alzheimer's dementia (AD), and Parkinson's disease (PD), receiver operating characteristic curves were plotted for each group. The concurrent validity of the Ham-D with the DSM-IV criteria for major depressive disorder was high in each of these groups. However, optimal performance of the Ham-D requires the application of disease-specific cutoff scores for screening, diagnostic, and dichotomization purposes. These disease-specific cutoff scores were highest in PD, lower in AD, and lowest in stroke patients.