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AzTrials

Major Depressive DisorderMOODNCT05989412

Mobile Screening for Major Depressive Disorder in Adults From an Ethnically and Socioeconomically Diverse Population.

A study testing Patient health questionnaire-9 via the Your Research application in people with Major Depressive Disorder, run by Erasmus Medical Center at 1 site in Netherlands.

Active, not recruiting

Under way, not looking for participants. Everyone needed has enrolled. The study is still running.

Official record
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Trial summary

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a mental disorder leading to a variety of emotional and physical problems affecting almost 300 million people worldwide. Long-term treatments for MDD, including medication and therapy, imposes a significant financial burden on society. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
Conditions the study is for
Major Depressive Disorder
What is being tested?
Patient health questionnaire-9 via the Your Research application
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
1,786 participants
Where
1 siteNetherlands
Study dates
1 Sep 2024to Mar 2028
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
Not yet: the study is under way

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 years and older
  • All sexes
  • Healthy volunteers accepted
  • Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • At least 18 years old Live in Rotterdam Zuid
  • Have access to a smartphone or tablet.
  • Give informed consent

Who cannot join

  • Is currently treated by a psychologist or psychiatrist for depressive symptoms

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

Netherlands1 site
  • Erasmus MC

    Rotterdam

Other trials in Netherlands

About this study

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a mental disorder leading to a variety of emotional and physical problems affecting almost 300 million people worldwide. Long-term treatments for MDD, including medication and therapy, imposes a significant financial burden on society. Mobile-based screening interventions might be a promising approach for effectively reducing MDD symptoms. The investigators hypothesize that the mobile-based screening strategy evaluated in this proposal will substantially reduce the burden of MDD over time, increase participants' quality of life, and decrease MDD-related disparities

Read the detailed description

The MOOD trial is designed as a prospective, randomized controlled multi-arm trial with three parallel groups: an intervention group that will be screened 4-weekly for MDD for 12 months and receives a referral for MDD diagnosis and treatment after one positive test score on the PHQ-9, an intervention group who will be screened the same as the first group but receives a referral for MDD diagnosis and treatment after three consecutive positive test scores on the PHQ-9 and a control group who do not receive mobile-based screening for MDD. Randomization will be performed by the Your Research application as block randomization with a 2:1:1 allocation and stratification for age, gender and living area.

The intervention will be powered to demonstrate an effect on quality of life after 12 months with 80% power at a 5% significance threshold. It assumes that averted MDD will result in a 0.40 improvement in quality of life and that frequent screening will be effective in 40% of participants with MDD. Furthermore, the investigators conservatively assume a cumulative incidence of MDD during 12 months of 10%, based on a three times increased rate of unemployment in the intervention area and therefore three times increased risk of developing MDD. An additional adjustment for an assumed 40% spontaneously remission rate within 12 months was applied. With a correlation coefficient of 0.8, the design effect for using the baseline measurement becomes 0.36. Therefore, 714 people are required in control and combined intervention arms. Yielding a total sample size of 1,428 people (2:1:1 randomization). The intervention will be powered to demonstrate an effect on quality of life with 80% power at a 5% significance threshold. To compensate for the potential 20% differential loss of follow-up in both arms due to adverse events, the investigators aim to recruit an additional 179 participants for the control arm and 179 participants for the intervention arm (1:1 between both intervention groups). To reach the goal this study therefore need 1786 participants.

Participants will follow the individual screening procedure through the application platform Your Research. Participants will be invited to create a secured personal account, after which all participants can log in through a website on their computer/laptop or by installing the Your Research app on their tablet or mobile phone. There will be a variety of platforms provided for additional inquiries about the study process, including video calls, chat options, and phone calls.

Participants will be recruited through different online and offline strategies to encourage citizens' participation according to different cultural backgrounds. Offline recruitment includes in-person interactions with community members referred to be "key figures", posting flyers in GP offices and municipal buildings, video promotion, presentations, and by addressing people personally in public areas. Online recruitment postings will be made on websites, social media networks, and local radio stations.

Interested individuals can enroll by visiting the study website, or by initiating an application procedure through the Your Research app. If preferred, contacting the investigators through phone or email is also possible. Eligible participants will subsequently be provided with the patient information form (PIF) as well as an informed consent form. Participants who complete and return the signed consent form will be enrolled and randomized in the trial. The informed consent procedure is conducted digitally by using ValidSign. After randomization, participants will complete the baseline assessment.

Recruitment will be closely monitored to ensure that the sample size will be reached. If the sample size is attained, inclusion tactics will be discontinued. Furthermore, to ensure that questionnaire assessments are completed and that participants remain in the study, researchers will automatically send reminders via several contact channels based on the participants' preferences (email, push notifications, SMS). Participants will be compensated for their participation at the end of the study. Depending on the study arm and the number of completed questionnaires the participants can earn up to €50 in gift cards. Participants have the option to withdraw from the study at any moment during the trial. Recruitment will take place between January 2024 and December 2024.

Primary and secondary outcome measures for the MOOD study will be collected using mobile-based questionnaires. Data can be collected throughout the study and stored using encrypted digital files within password-protected folders with access limited to a restricted number of researchers. To protect confidentiality, participants will be granted a unique participant identification number upon registration. This number, as well as the associated personal information, is only available to the lead investigator and team members under their supervision. Contact information will be kept separate from any other research data gathered throughout the study. After the study is finished, all data will be safely archived for 15 years within Erasmus Medical Center. Once all outcome data has been collected, it will be exported to a statistics program. Members of the research team will examine and clean the data. All data will be kept and stored in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Act.

Being tested
Patient health questionnaire-9 via the Your Research application
Keywords
Randomized controlled trial, Major depressive disorder, Screening intervention, eHealth, Mental health
Medical subject headings
Depressive Disorder, Major, Psychological Well-Being

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Patient health questionnaire-9 via the Your Research applicationOther

    Both intervention arms will have 4-weekly screening with either lenient follow-up or screening with stricter follow-up for a time period of one year. Data will be collected via an app designed by Your Research which runs on Microsoft Azure server, as the primary of participants' response collection. A dedicated backup system will serve as a secondary data collection.

Study groups in NCT05989412
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
Control armNo interventiona control arm where the investigators will only measure the quality of life using the EQ-5D questionnaire. This measurement will be performed at the same time as both screening arms.
Standard referralExperimentala screening arm with standard participant referral for diagnosis at the general practitioner's office (after 1 positive test score on the PHQ-9 questionnaire or suicidal ideation).
Receives: Other: Patient health questionnaire-9 via the Your Research application
Limited referralExperimentala screening arm with limited participant referral for diagnosis at the general practitioner's office (after three consecutive positive test scores on the PHQ-9 questionnaire or suicidal ideation).
Receives: Other: Patient health questionnaire-9 via the Your Research application

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Quality of life scores after 12 months

    Primary outcomes of the trial include participants' quality of life after 12 months as measured by the The 5-level EuroQuol-5D (EQ-5D-5L) between two intervention groups and the control group. EQ-5D-5L is being used as a 5-item self-report validated questionnaire for assessing health and health-related quality of life across five core dimensions (5D): mobility, self-care, daily activities, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression and has been widely used to measure the quality of life. Items are scored on zero-five levels of severity (5L) for each dimension. Higher scores represent decreased quality of life on that particular day with a minimum score of 5 and a maximum score of 25.

    Measured: 12 months

Secondary outcomes (1)
  1. Major depressive disorder symptoms

    The investigators will also examine the occurrence and severity of symptoms as measured by the PHQ-9. If participants are not referred to their GP due to one or three consecutive positive test scores on PHQ-9 during the 12-month intervention period, PHQ-9 will be evaluated every four weeks for both intervention groups. Furthermore, population differences will be evaluated based on socio-demographic characteristics (including age, gender, ethnicity, education level, and employment status).

    The PHQ-9 is a multipurpose instrument for screening, diagnosing, monitoring, and measuring the severity of depression including 9 questions and a 4-scale-based answer option (Not at all, Several days, More than half the days, Nearly every day). Total scores of 5, 10, 15, and 20 represent cutpoints for mild, moderate, moderately severe, and severe depression, respectively. Scores on the PHQ-9 range from 0 to 27. A higher score means a worse outcome

    Measured: 12 months

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted14 Aug 2023
  2. Study start1 Sep 2024
  3. Primary completionMar 2028 (estimated)
  4. Study completionMar 2028 (estimated)

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase N/A
Primary purpose
Screening
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Model description
The investigators will randomize 1786 eligible respondents across three arms, in a 2:1:1 fashion. The three arms comprise a control arm, a screening arm with limited participant referral for treatment (after three positive test scores on Patient Health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) or suicidal ideation), and a screening arm with standard referral for participants with moderate-severe symptoms of major depression (single positive test score on PHQ-9 questionnaire).
Masking
None (open label)
Enrolment
1,786 participants (estimated)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT05989412
Sponsor's protocol ID
NL84280.078.23
Acronym
MOOD
Status last verified
Sep 2026
First submitted
9 May 2023
Last updated
22 Sep 2026
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
Yes: Data of participants that did not grant permission to reuse their data for future research will have to be removed. Furthermore, further pseudonymisation and/or aggregation of the pseudonymised dataset would be required to secure the privacy of the participants and avoid indirect identification. The accessibility of the collected data could be important for potential follow-up research of this project and/or similar national/international projects that would like to perform analyses on our data because not much is known yet on the implementation of screening for MDD.

Publications

  • Abdoli N, Salari N, Darvishi N, Jafarpour S, Solaymani M, Mohammadi M, Shohaimi S. The global prevalence of major depressive disorder (MDD) among the elderly: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2022 Jan;132:1067-1073. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.10.041. Epub 2021 Nov 4.

    PubMed 34742925
  • Almeida OP. Prevention of depression in older age. Maturitas. 2014 Oct;79(2):136-41. doi: 10.1016/j.maturitas.2014.03.005. Epub 2014 Mar 22.

    PubMed 24713453
  • Gotlib IH, Goodman SH, Humphreys KL. Studying the Intergenerational Transmission of Risk for Depression: Current Status and Future Directions. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2020 Apr 1;29(2):174-179. doi: 10.1177/0963721420901590. Epub 2020 Feb 24.

    PubMed 33758474
  • Hall CA, Reynolds-Iii CF. Late-life depression in the primary care setting: challenges, collaborative care, and prevention. Maturitas. 2014 Oct;79(2):147-52. doi: 10.1016/j.maturitas.2014.05.026. Epub 2014 Jun 7.

    PubMed 24996484
  • GBD 2017 Disease and Injury Incidence and Prevalence Collaborators. Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 354 diseases and injuries for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Lancet. 2018 Nov 10;392(10159):1789-1858. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32279-7. Epub 2018 Nov 8.

    PubMed 30496104
  • Kalibatseva Z, Leong FT. Depression among Asian Americans: Review and Recommendations. Depress Res Treat. 2011;2011:320902. doi: 10.1155/2011/320902. Epub 2011 Sep 27.

    PubMed 21961060
  • Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JB. The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure. J Gen Intern Med. 2001 Sep;16(9):606-13. doi: 10.1046/j.1525-1497.2001.016009606.x.

    PubMed 11556941
  • Liu Q, He H, Yang J, Feng X, Zhao F, Lyu J. Changes in the global burden of depression from 1990 to 2017: Findings from the Global Burden of Disease study. J Psychiatr Res. 2020 Jul;126:134-140. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2019.08.002. Epub 2019 Aug 10.

    PubMed 31439359
  • O'Connor EA, Whitlock EP, Beil TL, Gaynes BN. Screening for depression in adult patients in primary care settings: a systematic evidence review. Ann Intern Med. 2009 Dec 1;151(11):793-803. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-151-11-200912010-00007.

    PubMed 19949145
  • Park LT, Zarate CA Jr. Depression in the Primary Care Setting. N Engl J Med. 2019 Feb 7;380(6):559-568. doi: 10.1056/NEJMcp1712493.

    PubMed 30726688
  • Posternak MA, Miller I. Untreated short-term course of major depression: a meta-analysis of outcomes from studies using wait-list control groups. J Affect Disord. 2001 Oct;66(2-3):139-46. doi: 10.1016/s0165-0327(00)00304-9.

    PubMed 11578666
  • Rohde P, Lewinsohn PM, Klein DN, Seeley JR, Gau JM. Key Characteristics of Major Depressive Disorder Occurring in Childhood, Adolescence, Emerging Adulthood, Adulthood. Clin Psychol Sci. 2013 Jan;1(1):10.1177/2167702612457599. doi: 10.1177/2167702612457599.

    PubMed 24273703
  • Siu AL; US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF); Bibbins-Domingo K, Grossman DC, Baumann LC, Davidson KW, Ebell M, Garcia FA, Gillman M, Herzstein J, Kemper AR, Krist AH, Kurth AE, Owens DK, Phillips WR, Phipps MG, Pignone MP. Screening for Depression in Adults: US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement. JAMA. 2016 Jan 26;315(4):380-7. doi: 10.1001/jama.2015.18392.

    PubMed 26813211
  • Sobocki P, Jonsson B, Angst J, Rehnberg C. Cost of depression in Europe. J Ment Health Policy Econ. 2006 Jun;9(2):87-98.

    PubMed 17007486
  • Steensma C, Loukine L, Orpana H, McRae L, Vachon J, Mo F, Boileau-Falardeau M, Reid C, Choi BC. Describing the population health burden of depression: health-adjusted life expectancy by depression status in Canada. Health Promot Chronic Dis Prev Can. 2016 Oct;36(10):205-213. doi: 10.24095/hpcdp.36.10.01.

    PubMed 27768557

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing Patient health questionnaire-9 via the Your Research application in people with Major Depressive Disorder, run by Erasmus Medical Center at 1 site in Netherlands.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 3 inclusion and 1 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: under way, not looking for participants, as of the sponsor's last update on 22 Sep 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in Netherlands. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Quality of life scores after 12 months (time frame: 12 months). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT05989412, which also lists 18 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 22 Sep 2026.

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