Psychiatry Investig.  2021 Nov;18(11):1068-1075. 10.30773/pi.2021.0453.

Identification of Central Symptoms in Depression of Older Adults With the Geriatric Depression Scale Using Network Analysis and Item Response Theory

• Kim KM
• Kim D
• Chung US
• Lee JJ

• KMID: 2522487
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.30773/pi.2021.0453

Abstract

Objective
This study aimed to identify the central symptoms of late-life depression using network analysis and the item response theory.
Methods
A total of 3,472 older adults were enrolled and the Geriatric Depression Scale-15 (GDS-15) was used to evaluate the depressive symptoms. To identify the central symptoms and the network structures among the individual symptoms, the analyses of symptom network structures and item response theory were performed.
Results
Among items on the GDS-15, “Happy,” “Hopeless,” “Empty,” “Bored,” “Worthless,” and “Good spirits” showed significantly higher strength centrality than the other symptoms. Among all the edges, the edge between “Empty” and “Bored” was the strongest; however, these two symptoms were not connected strongly to other symptoms. In the analysis of item response theory, “Empty,” “Bored,” “Hopeless,” “Worthless,” “Happy,” “Helpless,” and “Satisfied” presented a very high value on the discrimination parameter.
Conclusion
Our study identified the central symptoms and the network structures among symptoms listed on the GDS-15. Most of central symptoms identified by network analysis and item response theory coincided. Our results suggest that these central symptoms need to be prioritized as highly comorbid symptoms and can contribute to the development of a brief screening tool for the elderly.

Keyword

Old people; Depression; Central symptom; Network analysis; Item response theory