The study used people’s own reports of being diagnosed with depression or scoring high on short mental health questionnaires — which might miss cases because people in Taiwan often don’t talk about mental health.
Scientific Claim
Self-reported physician-diagnosed depression and symptom-based screening scores (PHQ-2 ≥3, GAD-2 ≥3) are used collectively to define psychiatric morbidity in a large Taiwanese cohort, providing a pragmatic but potentially biased measure due to cultural stigma and lack of clinical confirmation.
Original Statement
“Psychiatric morbidity, defined as the presence of depressive or anxiety symptoms, was identified using self-reported, physician-diagnosed depression, Patient Health Questionnaire 2-item (PHQ-2) score ≥ 3, or Generalized Anxiety Disorder 2-item (GAD-2) score ≥ 3... reliance on self-reported diagnoses may introduce misclassification.”
Evidence Quality Assessment
Claim Status
appropriately stated
Study Design Support
Design supports claim
Appropriate Language Strength
association
Can only show association/correlation
Assessment Explanation
The authors transparently describe the measurement approach and limitations. The claim accurately reflects their stated methodology without overstatement.
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
Abdominal Obesity Indices as Predictors of Psychiatric Morbidity in a Large-Scale Taiwanese Cohort
The study used people’s own reports and simple questionnaires to say who might be depressed or anxious, without checking with doctors for sure — which is easy to do on a big scale but might not be totally accurate, just like the claim says.