About the Patient Health Questionnaire-15
PHQ-15, 2002
Primary source
Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JBW. The PHQ-15: validity of a new measure for evaluating the severity of somatic symptoms. Psychosom Med. 2002;64(2):258-266.
Who it was built on
Validated on 6,000 adult patients in 8 general internal medicine and family practice clinics and 7 obstetrics-gynaecology clinics in the United States (Kroenke and colleagues, 2002).
Source and attribution
- Developed by
- Drs. Robert L. Spitzer, Janet B.W. Williams, Kurt Kroenke and colleagues, with an educational grant from Pfizer Inc.
- Published
- Psychosomatic Medicine, March–April 2002
- Rights
- Free to reproduce, display and translate, as stated by its developers on the questionnaire. The questions are used unchanged.
The score is calculated exactly as published in the scale.
How well it works
In the original study, higher scores went with a step-wise fall in day-to-day functioning, more sick days and more clinic visits. Its authors define levels of symptom burden from low to high. The scale measures how much symptoms bother you; it does not identify their cause.
Limitations
A measure of how bothersome physical symptoms are over four weeks. It is not a diagnosis, and it does not tell whether a symptom has a physical or any other cause; that needs a doctor. No study of this scale in India was found, so nothing is claimed about accuracy in India. A checked Hindi version is not available yet, so the check is offered in English only.
Other sources used
One question applies to women only, as printed on the questionnaire; the scale is scored on the questions shown.
PHQ-15 questionnaire, phqscreeners.com
The chest-pain prompt follows the NHS guidance on chest pain and heart attack symptoms; it is a reminder to seek urgent care, not an assessment of your pain.
NHS, Chest pain (reviewed 8 August 2023); NHS, Heart attack: symptoms (reviewed 31 March 2026)