Depression assessment and classification in palliative cancer patients: a systematic literature review

"The full range of the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria was seldom assessed,i.e. less than one-third of the assessments in the review tookinto account the duration of symptoms and 18% assessed consequences and impact upon patient functioning. A diversity of assessment methods had been used. Few studies classified depression byreferring to a diagnostic system or by using cut-off scores.Evidently, there is a need for a consensus on how to assessand conceptualize depression and related conditions in palliative care."