K10 Symptom Scale

This is a scale of psychological distress developed for use in epidemiological surveys. It is suitable for use as an outcome measure in people with anxiety and depressive disorders. It is reproduced below.

The 10 item scale has five response categories and the score is the sum of those responses. Score range from 10 to 50. People who score 0-15 have one quarter the population risk of meeting criteria for an anxiety or depressive disorder as identified by the CIDI, and a remote chance of reporting a suicidal attempt in their lifetime. People who score 16-30 have a one in four chance (three times the population risk) of having a current anxiety or depressive disorder and 1% chance (three times the population risk) of ever having made a suicide attempt. People who score 30-50 have a three out of four chance (ten times the population risk) of meeting criteria for an anxiety or depressive disorder and 6% chance (20 times the population risk) of ever having made a suicide attempt. The first group comprise 78% of the population and are told their score is low and that they probably do not need the self help information. The second group, 20% of the population, are encouraged to use the information and techniques on the self help page. The third group, 2% of the population, are strongly encouraged to see a doctor even if they do not use the site.

Below we list the sensitivity and specificity of the scale against CIDI diagnoses of anxiety or depressive disorders. The scale was developed by R. Kessler, School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston (Kessler, Andrews et al 2002) and the normative data are from the Australian Survey of Mental Health and Well-being (Andrews and Slade 2001)- see the research page for the appropriate references.

Performance of the K10 against a DSM-IV diagnosis of any current Anxiety or Affective Disorder (weighted prevalence in the population = 7.1%)

K10 Score
Miss Rate
False Alarm Rate
Hit Rate (Sensitivity)
Correct Rejection Rate (Specificity)
>=14
0.06
0.37
0.94
0.63
15
0.10
0.28
0.90
0.72
16
0.14
0.22
0.86
0.78
17
0.19
0.17
0.81
0.83
18
0.23
0.13
0.77
0.87
19
0.29
0.10
0.71
0.90
20
0.34
0.08
0.66
0.92
21
0.40
0.06
0.60
0.94
22
0.45
0.05
0.55
0.95
23
0.50
0.03
0.50
0.97
24
0.55
0.03
0.45
0.97
25
0.59
0.02
0.41
0.98
26
0.64
0.02
0.36
0.98
27
0.67
0.01
0.33
0.99
28
0.69
0.01
0.31
0.99
29
0.73
0.01
0.27
0.99
30
0.76
0.01
0.24
0.99
31
0.79
0.00
0.21
1.00
32
0.82
0.00
0.18
1.00

Click here to go to a 'printer-friendly' K10 Symptom Scale

Edited by Gavin Andrews MD, UNSW, Jan 03
© 2003 CRUfAD

Back to Top