OBJECTIVE: To determine which screening instrument is most suitable for 
detecting depression in Chinese stroke patients.
METHOD: A random sample of 60 Chinese subjects recruited from consecutively 
admitted patients with first-ever stroke to a rehabilitation facility were 
assessed using the Visual Analogue Mood Scale (VAMS), the Hospital Anxiety and 
Depression Scale (HADS), and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Psychiatric 
diagnoses, which served as a benchmark for the comparison of screening 
instruments, were made using the SCID-DSM-III-R. Rating instruments were 
compared with respect to response rate, sensitivity, specificity, positive and 
negative predictive values, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves.
RESULTS: The VAMS was not useful in screening for depression in Chinese stroke 
patients while both the HADS and the GDS demonstrated satisfactory accuracy in 
detecting depression in Chinese stroke patients.
CONCLUSIONS: Screening instruments for poststroke depression are 
culture-specific and even scales well established in other cultures should be 
tested before being used in clinical practice and research.