How does the "Predict" risk calculator work?
The questionnaires on this website have been developed and validated as instruments to predict in a certain person the onset in the future (in the next year) of an episode of depression, anxiety and/or hazardous or harmful alcohol drinking. Actually, these questionnaires are "risk calculators".
The scientific validity of these "risk calculators" comes from a large study carried out with 5,442 people in seven Spanish provinces (in six autonomous regions)1,2,3. The people who participated in the study were between 18 and 75 years of age. Consequently, these "risk calculators" do not make predictions for people below or above this age. The questionnaires used for prediction contain questions about age, sex, physical and mental quality of life, health history, and degree of satisfaction with home life, among others.
From the answers, the "risk calculators" perform mathematical operations and you are informed about your likelihood of suffering depression, anxiety and/or hazardous or harmful alcohol drinking in the next year.
1. Bellón et al. Predicting the onset of major depression in primary care: international validation of a risk prediction algorithm from Spain. Psychological Medicine; 2011, 41(10):2075-2088.
2. Moreno-Peral et al. Predicting the onset of anxiety syndromes at 12 months in primary care attendees. The predictA-Spain study. PloS one. 2014; 9(9):e106370.
3. Bellón et al. Predicting the onset of hazardous alcohol drinking in primary care: development and validation of a simple risk algorithm. The British Journal of General Practice. 2017. 67(657): e280-e292.
