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. 2020 Sep 15;10(9):e040620. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-040620

Table 2.

Depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7) and stress (PSS-4) scores and published population normative data†

PHQ-9 Score GAD-7 Score PSS-4 Score
Participants Norms Participants Norms Participants Norms
Mean (SD) Mean (SD) t Mean (SD) Mean (SD) t Mean (SD) Mean (SD) t
Total score 7.69 (6.0) 2.91 (3.5) 45.31**** 6.59 (5.6) 2.95 (3.4) 36.52**** 6.48 (3.3) 6.11 (3.1) 3.80****
Gender
 Male 6.49 (6.1) 2.7 (3.5) 18.56**** 5.22 (5.4) 2.66 (3.2) 13.77**** 5.88 (3.3) 5.56 (3.0) 1.57 (p=0.12)
 Female 7.91 (6.0) 3.1 (3.5) 35.80**** 6.84 (5.5) 3.20 (3.5) 28.83**** 6.59 (3.3) 6.38 (3.2) 1.73 (p=0.084)
Age groups (years)
 18–24 11.24 (6.4) 9.02 (6.0) 8.13 (3.3)
 25–34 8.74 (5.9) 2.3 (3.2) 23.56**** 7.73 (5.6) 2.81 (3.3) 13.85**** 6.94 (3.3)
 35–44 8.23 (6.0) 2.6 (3.5) 23.45**** 7.25 (5.7) 2.82 (3.3) 14.09**** 6.467 (3.2)
 45–54 7.32 (5.7) 2.8 (3.5) 19.24**** 6.28 (5.3) 3.14 (3.4) 10.71**** 6.16 (3.0)
 55–64 6.35 (5.6) 3.2 (3.5) 13.03**** 5.43 (5.1) 3.25 (3.6) 7.36**** 5.94 (3.2)
 65–74 3.83 (4.3) 3.3 (3.6) 1.95 (p=0.051) 3.32 (3.8) 2.79 (3.2) 1.92 (p=0.056) 5.07 (3.0)
 ≥75 4.39 (5.8) 4.4 (3.9) 0.02 (p=0.99) 2.92 (4.4) 3.05 (3.4) 0.21 (p=0.83) 4.80 (3.0)

****p<0.0001.

†PHQ-9, the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire22; GAD-7, the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale23; PSS-4, the 4-item Perceived Stress Scale.24 Published population normative data for PHQ-9,27 GAD-7,29 PSS-4.28