Item bias on the geriatric depression scale (GDS): investigating the quality and generalizability of GDS on Chinese and Korean community-dwelling elderly population

BACKGROUND: Although some previous studies have reported the impact of cultural factors on individuals’ cognition and decision making, a shortage of research has led to this comparison study for Chinese and Korean elderly, a growing population with depression. This study aimed to explore depression levels in Chinese and South Korean elderly individuals by focusing on testing the generalizability of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). METHODS: The data of 493 community-dwelling Chinese and Korean elderly individuals over the age of 60 years were used to examine GDS. To test the dimensionality, item quality, and reliability of the GDS, the item response theory, Rasch analysis was performed. The detection of differential item functioning (DIF) of the GDS between the two countries was determined by performing a hybrid ordinal logistic regression. RESULTS: The four-dimensional framework of the GDS, categorized into agitation, cognitive concerns, dysphoria, and vigor/withdrawal was fit for measuring depression levels in Chinese and Korean elderly individuals. In addition, good item quality and reliability of the GDS indicate that almost all items in this scale contribute to measuring the intended trait. Meanwhile, 18 out of 28 items of the GDS were detected as country-related DIF with five items having a large effect size. CONCLUSIONS: Although China and Korea are close geographically and culturally, the item bias shown by severe country-related DIF implies that different cultural backgrounds impact how the elderly interpret GDS items. The cultural issues related to the specific DIF items, the implication to accuracy of individual scores estimation, and the optimal decision to treat individuals were discussed. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-021-02516-z.