Using ROC curve to evaluate cut-off points of Psychological Distress Scale of Cancer Patients / 中国实用护理杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To determine the cut-off points of Psychological Distress Scale of Cancer Patients by using the ROC curve, in order to provide reference for clinical application of it. Methods A questionnaire containing both the Psychological Distress Scale of Cancer Patients and Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) were filled by 364 cancer patients in Beijing Cancer Hospital. Later the cut-off points of the four latitudes of the Scale were evaluated by ROC curve through comparing the two scales. Results By using the latitudes of the SCL-90 scale as a reference, the areas of all the four latitudes of the Scale were:anxiety (0.815, P<0.01); depression (0.790, P<0.01); interpersonal disability (0.829, P<0.01);suspiciousness (0.670, P<0.01) respectively. The following cut-off points could result in the most ideal sensitivity and specificity: 11 for anxiety; 14 for depression; 7 for interpersonal disability and 4 for suspiciousness. Conclusions The Psychological Distress Scale of Cancer Patients can provide great values to the diagnosis of psychological problems related with anxiety, depression, and interpersonal disability, while low valuable reference for diagnosis of suspiciousness. It can provide good diagnosis value which contributes to evaluation of psychological problems of cancer patients.