TY  - JOUR
T1  - Utility of a new procedure for diagnosing mental disorders in primary care: The prime-md 1000 study
AU  - Spitzer RL, Williams JW, Kroenke K, et al
Y1  - 1994/12/14
N1  - 10.1001/jama.1994.03520220043029
JO  - JAMA
SP  - 1749
EP  - 1756
VL  - 272
IS  - 22
N2  - Objective. 
    —To assess the validity and utility of PRIME-MD (Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders), a new rapid procedure for diagnosing mental disorders by primary care physicians.Design. 
    —Survey; criterion standard.Setting. 
    —Four primary care clinics.Subjects. 
    —A total of 1000 adult patients (369 selected by convenience and 631 selected by site-specific methods to avoid sampling bias) assessed by 31 primary care physicians.Main Outcome Measures. 
    —PRIME-MD diagnoses, independent diagnoses made by mental health professionals, functional status measures (Short-Form General Health Survey), disability days, health care utilization, and treatment/ referral decisions.Results. 
    —Twenty-six percent of the patients had a PRIME-MD diagnosis that met full criteria for a specific disorder according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Revised Third Edition. The average time required of the primary care physician to complete the PRIME-MD evaluation was 8.4 minutes. There was good agreement between PRIME-MD diagnoses and those of independent mental health professionals (for the diagnosis of any PRIME-MD disorder, κ=0.71; overall accuracy rate=88%). Patients with PRIME-MD diagnoses had lower functioning, more disability days, and higher rates of health care utilization than did patients without PRIME-MD diagnoses (for all measures, P<.005). Nearly half (48%) of 287 patients with a PRIME-MD diagnosis who were somewhat or fairly well-known to their physicians had not been recognized to have that diagnosis before the PRIME-MD evaluation. A new treatment or referral was initiated for 62% of the 125 patients with a PRIME-MD diagnosis who were not already being treated.Conclusion. 
    —PRIME-MD appears to be a useful tool for identifying mental disorders in primary care practice and research.(JAMA. 1994;272:1749-1756)
SN  - 0098-7484
M3  - doi: 10.1001/jama.1994.03520220043029
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1994.03520220043029
ER  -