Task force finds evidence supporting depression screening.(Brief Article)

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has found sufficient evidence to encourage primary care clinicians to formally screen their adult patients for depression, in an attempt to make it easier to identify a condition not often recognized by doctors or their patients.

The task force also noted that primary care professionals should have systems in place to ensure accurate diagnosis, effective treatment and follow-up if patients are to benefit from depression screening.

This recommendation, to be published in the May 21 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, updates the task force's 1996 recommendation, which encouraged clinicians to remain alert for …