Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic joint autoimmune disease with a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms due to the burden of the disease. There are several patient-self-depression scales used for the assessment and a wide range of variations in the prevalence of depression could be related to this. No evidence was found that reports the most accurate, sensitive, and specific depression instrument through an extensive review in the literature. To determine the most precise depression instrument to evaluate RA patients. A systematic review search was directed, considering type of study, prevalence of depressive symptoms, usage of validated depression scales, and reported scale performance measurements. The data extraction followed the PRISMA guidelines, and the risk of bias was assessed using RoB 2, ROBINS-I, and QUADAS-2. From a total of 1958, only 28 articles included in the analysis. The total number of patients analyzed was 6405, with a mean age of 56.53 years, 4474 women (75.22%), and a mean prevalence of depressive symptoms of 27.4%. The most frequent and the best scale used was the CES-D (n = 12), considering all characteristics. The CES-D reported the best psychometric properties, and it was the most frequently used tool.

类风湿性关节炎（RA）是一种慢性关节自身免疫性疾病，由于疾病负担，抑郁症状的患病率较高。有几种用于评估的患者自我抑郁量表，抑郁症患病率的各种变化可能与此有关。通过对文献的广泛回顾，没有发现任何证据报告最准确、最敏感、最具体的抑郁症工具。确定评估 RA 患者最精确的抑郁症工具。考虑到研究类型、抑郁症状的患病率、经过验证的抑郁量表的使用以及报告的量表表现测量，进行了系统综述搜索。数据提取遵循 PRISMA 指南，并使用 RoB 2、ROBINS-I 和 QUADAS-2 评估偏倚风险。从 1958 年总共来看，只有 28 篇文章纳入分析。分析的患者总数为 6405 名，平均年龄 56.53 岁，女性 4474 名（75.22%），抑郁症状平均患病率为 27.4%。考虑到所有特征，最常用和最好的量表是 CES-D（n  = 12）。CES-D 报告了最佳的心理测量特性，也是最常用的工具。