Clinically Useful Depression Outcome Scale (CUDOS)

The Clinically Useful Depression Outcome Scale (CUDOS) is a brief, quickly scored, self-report scale used to assess depressive symptoms over the past 1 week. CUDOS is reliable, valid, and sensitive to change.1 The CUDOS consists of 18 questions. The first 16 are scored from 0 to 4 for frequency of symptoms over the past week. The final 2 questions cover the impact of these symptoms on the respondent’s life and their overall quality of life in the past week.2
Description: The Clinically Useful Depression Outcome Scale (CUDOS) is a brief, quickly scored, self-report scale used to assess depressive symptoms over the past 1 week. CUDOS is reliable, valid, and sensitive to change.1 The CUDOS consists of 18 questions. The first 16 are scored from 0 to 4 for frequency of symptoms over the past week. The final 2 questions cover the impact of these symptoms on the respondent’s life and their overall quality of life in the past week.2
Disease States: Major depressive disorder
Validated Uses: Screening, Treatment Monitoring & Evaluation, Symptom Severity
Administration Method: Self-report
Time to administer: < 3 minutes
Commonly used in: Clinical Practice
Detailed Description: The CUDOS is a self-report scale used to assess for depressive symptoms over the past 1 week.1,2 One characteristic that may make the CUDOS attractive for use in clinical practice is its brevity. Additionally, the CUDOS thoroughly covers the diagnostic criteria for MDD as laid out in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). It does not require purchase, and it is simple to score.1

The authors recommend CUDOS scoring as follows: scores of 0 to 10 correspond to nondepressed; scores of 11 to 20 correspond to minimal depression; scores of 21 to 30 correspond to mild depression; scores of 31 to 45 correspond to moderate depression; and scores of 46 and higher correspond to severe depression.
Scale Validity: A large validation trial was completed in 2008.1 The sensitivity of the scale is 83.3%, and the specificity of the scale is 72.1%. The scale has a positive predictive value of 72.6% and a negative predictive value of 82.9%.1 
Alternative Versions: CUDOS-D (daily),4 CUDOS-M (mixed)5 
Cited Limitations: Limitations with self-report questionnaires in general include the possibility of the respondent answering falsely or incorrectly to an item or items as well as the ability of the respondent to read and understand the scale.1 Additionally, the CUDOS assesses symptom severity in terms of frequency only, while some scales consider both symptom frequency and intensity (eg, the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology–Self-Report [QIDS-SR]).6

Footnotes:

Supporting references for the filters are as follows: Disease States: Major depressive disorder,1,3 Validated Uses: Screening,1,3 Treatment Monitoring & Evaluation,1,3 Symptom severity,1,3 Populations: Adults >18yo,3 Administration Method: Self-report,1 Time to administer: < 3 minutes,1 Commonly used in: Clinical Practice.1 
 

This resource is intended for educational purposes only and is intended for US healthcare professionals. Healthcare professionals should use independent medical judgment. All decisions regarding patient care must be handled by a healthcare professional and be made based on the unique needs of each patient.  

This is not a diagnostic tool and is not intended to replace a clinical evaluation by a healthcare provider. 

 

ABBV-US-01248-MC, Version 1.0
Approved 04/2023
Sponsored by AbbVie Medical Affairs

References:

  1. Zimmerman M, Chelminski I, McGlinchey JB, Posternak MA. A clinically useful depression outcome scale. Compr Psychiatry. 2008;49(2):131-140. doi:10.1016/j.comppsych.2007.10.006
  2. Zimmerman M. The Clinically Useful Depression Outcome Scale (CUDOS). 2008. https://www.mcgill.ca/psy/files/psy/cudos.pdf 
  3. Beidas RS, Stewart RE, Walsh L, et al. Free, brief, and validated: Standardized instruments for low-resource mental health settings. Cogn Behav Pract. 2015;22(1):5-19. 
  4. Zimmerman M, Harris L, Martin J, McGonigal P. Reliability and validity of a self-report scale for daily assessments of the severity of depressive symptoms. Psychiatry Res. 2018;270:581-586. 
  5. Zimmerman M, Chelminski I, Young D, Dalrymple K, Martinez JH. A clinically useful self-report measure of the DSM-5 mixed features specifier of major depressive disorder. J Affect Disord. 2014;168:357-362.
  6. Zimmerman M, Walsh E, Friedman M, Boerescu DA, Attiullah N. Identifying remission from depression on 3 self-report scales.  J Clin Psychiatry. 2017;78(2):177-183.  

Welcome To NP Psych Navigator

This website is intended for healthcare professionals inside the United States.
Please confirm that you are a healthcare professional inside the US.

No, I am not US Healthcare professional

You are now leaving NP Psych Navigator

Links to sites outside of NP Psych Navigator are provided as a resource to the viewer. AbbVie Inc accepts no responsibility for the content of non-AbbVie linked sites.

Redirect to:

Please to bookmark content