Since the introduction of antidepressants to psychopharmacology in the 1960s, the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) has been the most frequently used rating scale for depression. When used as a scale for prediction of outcome with antidepressants, the HAM-D, by its total score, has obtained limited use analogous to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 4th ed (DSM-IV...

Decision making by policymakers, public health professionals, and health care providers is often guided by the extent to which individuals feel at risk for certain adverse health events. Such health risk perceptions can be assessed in surveys using different types of probability rating scales. It has recently been suggested that rating scales that offer decomposed numeric values at the lower en...

INTRODUCTION During the past decades several rating scales have been developed to assess the functional status of patients with low back pain. METHODS We performed a search using the keywords 'spine' in combination with 'scoring system', 'scale', 'scores', 'outcome assessment', 'low back pain' and 'clinical evaluation'. RESULTS Twenty-eight scoring systems are currently available for the ev...