Changes in patient-reported outcomes during admission to a South African psychiatric facility

Background: Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are used as part of clinical practice to determine the impact of the condition and treatment interventions on a patient’s health and quality of life. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) is a self-administered diagnostic tool that has been widely adopted for the detection and monitoring of depression.Aim: This analysis reports the change in PHQ-9 scores from admission to discharge in patients admitted for depression to a South African acute psychiatric facility and aims to quantify the treatment effect of the admission using the PHQ-9 as the measurement tool.Setting: South African acute psychiatric facility.Methods: This was a retrospective observational study of all patients admitted to Netcare Akeso acute psychiatric facilities from 01 January 2018 to 31 October 2022. Patients were included if they were ≥ 18 years of age, admitted with a primary International Classification of Disease (ICD)-10 code for depression (i.e. F32–F33) and fully completed both an admission and discharge PHQ-9 questionnaire. We excluded facilities focusing only on the treatment of patients with specialised conditions such as addiction or eating disorders.Results: This analysis included 13 308 patients admitted for depression at 10 different facilities. The median PHQ-9 score on admission was 19 (interquartile range [IQR] 14–23) and 5 (IQR 2–11) on discharge, with a median change of -12 (IQR -5 to -18). A minimal clinically important difference was seen in 87.6% patients (n = 10 091/11 515); a treatment effect was seen in 74.5% of patients and a clinically significant improvement was seen in 72.1% of patients.Conclusion: With the average patient reporting a four-fold reduction in the severity of their depression scores, PROMs provide a critical patient-centred window into the benefit that an inpatient admission has on those suffering with depression.Contribution: These changes are consistent with those seen internationally and provide a baseline for understanding the treatment efficacy of an inpatient admission for the treatment of depression.