High-quality evidence on the prevalence of depression in different categories of patients
| Prevalence of depression in all euthanasia/PAS requests | Prevalence of depression in refused euthanasia/PAS requests | Prevalence of depression in granted euthanasia/PAS requests | Prevalence of depression in control group not requesting euthanasia/PAS | |
| The Netherlands | 17% of terminal cancer patients had major depression on CIDI (2/12). 47% had depression on HADS (14/30)15 | 0% of terminal cancer patients had major depression on CIDI (0/17). 17% had depression on HADS (18/107)15 | ||
| 8% of all patients had severe depressive symptoms in last 24 h of life16 | 12% of all patients had severe depressive symptoms in last 24 h of life16 | 2% of all patients had severe depressive symptoms in last 24 h of life16 | 3% of all patients had severe depressive symptoms in last 24 h of life16 | |
| 10% of terminal cancer patients had severe depressive feelings (11/106)17 | 8% of terminal cancer patients had severe depressive feelings (5/64)17 | |||
| 32% of all patients had depression, 18% had depression as a reason for the request18 | 9% of all patients had depression, 4% had depression as a reason for the request18 | |||
| 39% of all patients had depression as predominant complaint19 | 3% of all patients had depression as predominant complaint19 | |||
| 20% of patients where a psychiatrist was consulted had a psychiatric diagnosis of mood disorder (25/124)20 | 7% of patients where a psychiatrist was consulted had a psychiatric diagnosis of mood disorder (5/67)20 | |||
| 13% of terminal cancer patients had severe depressive feelings (2/16)21 | 6–8% of terminal cancer patients had severe depressive feelings (4/69)21 | |||
| Oregon state, USA | 26% of all patients had depression in a structured interview/HADS (15/58)22 | 30% of all patients had depression in a structured interview/HADS (12/40)22 | 17% of all patients had depression in a structured interview/HADS (3/18)22 |
Absolute numbers are given in brackets where available.
CIDI, Composite International Diagnostic Interview; HADS, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; PAS, physician-assisted suicide.