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Table 3 Patient Health Questionnaire Depression Module (PHQ-9) by Age Category

From: Airplane pilot mental health and suicidal thoughts: a cross-sectional descriptive study via anonymous web-based survey

Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by the following problems:

Age <41

n (%)

Age 41 to 50

n (%)

Age 51 to 60

n (%)

Age >60

n (%)

Total

n (%)

1) Little interest or pleasure in doing things? (n = 1812)a b

 Not at all

247 (50.6)

258 (52.6)

265 (59.4)

282 (72.9)

1052 (58.1)

 Several days

189 (38.7)

184 (37.5)

138 (30.9)

80 (20.7)

591 (32.6)

 More than half the days

39 (8.0)

33 (6.7)

21 (4.7)

17 (4.4)

110 (6.1)

 Nearly everyday

13 (2.7)

16 (3.3)

22 (4.9)

8 (2.1)

59 (3.3)

2) Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless? (n = 1800)a b

 Not at all

344 (70.8)

349 (71.1)

341 (76.8)

323 (85.2)

1357 (75.4)

 Several days

113 (23.3)

111 (22.6)

75 (16.9)

44 (11.6)

343 (19.1)

 More than half the days

22 (4.5)

24 (4.9)

17 (3.8)

7 (1.9)

70 (3.9)

 Nearly everyday

7 (1.4)

7 (1.4)

11 (2.5)

5 (1.3)

30 (1.7)

3) Trouble falling or staying asleep, or sleeping too much? (n = 1809)a b

 Not at all

100 (20.6)

109 (22.3)

122 (27.3)

219 (56.6)

550 (30.4)

 Several days

241 (49.6)

245 (50.1)

192 (43.0)

106 (27.4)

784 (43.3)

 More than half the days

95 (19.6)

85 (17.4)

83 (18.6)

34 (8.8)

297 (16.4)

 Nearly everyday

50 (10.3)

50 (10.2)

50 (11.2)

28 (7.2)

178 (9.8)

4) Feeling tired or having little energy? (n = 1806)a b

 Not at all

79 (16.2)

77 (15.8)

107 (23.9)

195 (51.2)

458 (25.4)

 Several days

267 (54.7)

261 (53.4)

231 (51.6)

141 (37.0)

900 (49.8)

 More than half the days

101 (20.7)

104 (21.3)

74 (16.5)

28 (7.4)

307 (17.0)

 Nearly everyday

41 (8.4)

47 (9.6)

36 (8.0)

17 (4.5)

141 (7.8)

5) Poor appetite or overeating? (n = 1805)a b

 Not at all

223 (46.0)

229 (46.9)

247 (55.3)

290 (75.3)

989 (54.8)

 Several days

158 (32.6)

163 (33.4)

137 (30.7)

69 (17.9)

527 (29.2)

 More than half the days

73 (15.1)

72 (14.8)

42 (9.4)

16 (4.2)

203 (11.3)

 Nearly everyday

31 (6.4)

24 (4.9)

21 (4.7)

10 (2.6)

86 (4.8)

6) Feeling bad about yourself – or that you are a failure or have let yourself or your family down? (n = 1811)a b

 Not at all

345 (70.7)

353 (72.0)

345 (77.4)

326 (84.2)

1369 (75.6)

 Several days

106 (21.7)

103 (21.0)

72 (16.1)

50 (12.9)

331 (18.3)

 More than half the days

30 (6.2)

23 (4.7)

16 (3.6)

6 (1.6)

75 (4.1)

 Nearly everyday

7 (1.4)

11 (2.2)

13 (2.9)

5 (1.3)

36 (2.0)

7) Trouble concentrating on things, such as reading the newspaper or watching TV? (n = 1803)a b

 Not at all

305 (62.5)

287 (58.5)

304 (68.3)

305 (80.5)

1201 (66.6)

 Several days

149 (30.5)

167 (34.0)

107 (24.0)

62 (16.4)

485 (26.9)

 More than half the days

24 (4.9)

29 (5.9)

18 (4.0)

7 (1.9)

78 (4.3)

 Nearly everyday

10 (2.1)

8 (1.6)

16 (3.6)

5 (1.3)

39 (2.2)

8) Moving or speaking so slowly that other people could have noticed? Or the opposite – being so fidgety or restless that you have been moving around a lot more than usual? (n = 1810)a b

 Not at all

414 (84.8)

407 (83.1)

390 (87.8)

357 (92.0)

1568 (86.6)

 Several days

56 (11.5)

66 (13.5)

33 (7.4)

23 (5.9)

178 (9.8)

 More than half the days

14 (2.9)

13 (2.7)

12 (2.7)

7 (1.8)

46 (2.5)

 Nearly everyday

4 (0.8)

4 (0.8)

9 (2.0)

1 (0.3)

18 (1.0)

9) Thoughts that you would be better off dead or of hurting yourself in some way? (n = 1798)

 Not at all

469 (96.1)

468 (95.7)

426 (96.0)

360 (95.5)

1723 (95.8)

 Several days

13 (2.7)

16 (3.3)

13 (2.9)

14 (3.7)

56 (3.1)

 More than half the days

4 (0.8)

3 (0.6)

1 (0.2)

1 (0.3)

9 (0.5)

 Nearly everyday

2 (0.4)

2 (0.4)

4 (0.9)

2 (0.5)

10 (0.6)

Median PHQ-9 total score (IQR) n

4 (2–8) 489

4 (2–7) 491

3 (2–7) 449

1 (0–4) 389

3 (2–7) 1848

How difficult have these problems made it for you to do your work, take care of things at home, or get along with people? (n = 1812)a b

 Not at all

269 (55.1)

262 (53.5)

282 (62.8)

306 (79.5)

1119 (61.8)

 Somewhat

199 (40.8)

207 (42.2)

139 (31.0)

70 (18.2)

615 (33.9)

 Very

17 (3.5)

16 (3.3)

17 (3.8)

5 (1.3)

55 (3.0)

 Extremely

3 (0.6)

5 (1.0)

11 (2.5)

4 (1.0)

23 (1.3)

  1. aTwo-sided Chi-square or Fisher’s Exact Test p-value < 0.05
  2. bNon-parametric test for trend of item scores across age groups, p-value < 0.05