RESPONSE: Re: National Institutes of Health State-of-the-Science Conference Statement: Symptom Management in Cancer: Pain, Depression, and Fatigue, July 15–17, 2002

Extract

We agree with Forcina that existing depression rating scales “could benefit from further refinement” in patients with cancer. In the meantime, we believe these scales should be used clinically until there is evidence that major depression in patients with cancer differs substantially from major depression associated with other causes.

Our literature sources were contained in the technical report commissioned by the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, for this State-of-the-Science Panel.