Online Medical Tools — K10 Distress
Printed on 9/3/2026
For informational purposes only. This is not medical advice.
K10 Distress
K10 is a brief global distress screening questionnaire widely used in primary care, public health, and epidemiologic settings to estimate anxiety/depression-related distress burden.
Formula: K10 total = sum of 10 items scored 1-5 each (range 10-50).
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How It Works
Rate 10 Emotional Symptoms for the Past 4 Weeks
The patient rates 10 items about past 4-week emotional symptoms on a 1-5 scale: 1 = None of the time, 2 = A little of the time, 3 = Some of the time, 4 = Most of the time, 5 = All of the time. Items cover tiredness, nervousness, hopelessness, restlessness, depression, effort, worthlessness, and sadness.
Sum All Items for Total Score 10-50
Sum all 10 items. Score range is 10-50 (minimum 1 per item). There is no reverse scoring. Higher scores indicate greater psychological distress.
Apply Clinical Bands and Determine Intervention Need
Australian/WHO K10 clinical bands: 10-19 = likely well; 20-24 = mild psychological distress; 25-29 = moderate distress — clinical assessment warranted; 30-50 = severe psychological distress — specialist mental health referral warranted. The last two categories require clinical follow-up.
Who Uses the K10 Distress
Population-Level Mental Health Surveillance
Epidemiologists and Public Health Researchers
K10 was developed specifically for the WHO World Mental Health Survey and is used in national mental health surveys across Australia, the US, and 30+ countries. Its standardized format enables reliable comparisons of psychological distress prevalence across populations, time periods, and demographic subgroups.
Primary Care Psychological Distress Screening
Primary Care Physicians and GPs
K10 is the standard distress screening tool recommended in Australian mental health guidelines and used in the Better Access initiative (Medicare). In primary care, K10 identifies patients with moderate to severe distress (scores 20+) who warrant formal mental health assessment and potential referral to psychologists or psychiatrists.
Occupational Health Mental Wellness Programs
Occupational Health Professionals
K10 enables workplace mental health screening at population scale. Aggregate K10 data identifies teams or departments with elevated distress, guides allocation of employee assistance program (EAP) resources, and measures the effectiveness of workplace mental health interventions pre and post implementation.
Refugee and Trauma-Exposed Population Screening
NGOs and Humanitarian Health Workers
K10 has been validated in refugee and trauma-exposed populations across multiple languages and cultures. Its non-diagnosis-specific distress measurement is particularly valuable in settings where trauma history is complex and where formal psychiatric diagnosis may not be feasible or culturally appropriate.
Mental Health Intervention Research
Clinical Researchers
K10 is widely used as a primary or secondary outcome measure in mental health intervention trials, including studies of psychological therapies, pharmacotherapy, and social interventions. Its sensitivity to change over time enables detection of treatment effects and allows comparison with large normative datasets.
Australian Medicare Better Access Screening
Australian GPs and Allied Health
K10 is the recommended assessment tool for the Australian Medicare Better Access Mental Health Care Plans (item 2710). GPs must administer K10 at the initial consultation and at review visits to document distress level, justify mental health treatment plans, and measure outcomes for Medicare billing purposes.
Pro Tips
K10 Is Australia's Standard Mental Health Screen — Required for Medicare
K10 is the Australian government-mandated screening tool for the Better Access Mental Health Care Plans (Medicare items 2710/2712). All Australian GPs must administer K10 at initial mental health care plan creation and at 3-6 month review visits. This makes K10 the most clinically deployed screening tool in Australian primary care.
K10 Bands Differ From K6 Bands — Don't Confuse Them
K10 score range is 10-50 using a 1-5 response scale. K6 score range is 0-24 using a 0-4 response scale. K10 clinical bands (10-19, 20-24, 25-29, 30-50) and K6 bands (0-7, 8-12, 13-24) are entirely different. Using K6 cutoffs for K10 scores (or vice versa) produces completely invalid clinical interpretations.
Severe K10 (30+) Predicts Serious Mental Illness With High Specificity
K10 score 30+ has sensitivity 0.42 and specificity 0.95 for any 12-month DSM-IV disorder in Australian community samples. The high specificity means that most patients scoring 30+ do have a clinically significant mental health disorder — this warrants urgent mental health specialist referral, not just monitoring.
K10 Correlates Strongly With PHQ-9 and GAD-7 But Is Not Disorder-Specific
K10 correlates highly with PHQ-9 (r=0.74) and GAD-7 (r=0.67) but measures non-specific distress. A high K10 does not tell you whether the distress is primarily depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar, or another condition. Disorder-specific tools (PHQ-9, GAD-7, PCL-5) are required to identify the underlying condition.
K10 Is Sensitive to Change Over Time
K10 is designed for repeated administration and is sensitive to treatment effects. Australian Better Access guidelines recommend K10 at initial assessment, at 3 months (interim review), and at 6 months (final review) to document treatment outcome for Medicare. A clinically meaningful improvement is generally considered a decrease of 5+ points or movement to a lower distress band.
K10 Scores Higher in Women Than Men on Average
Population studies consistently show women score 1-3 points higher on K10 than men, independent of mental health diagnosis. Unemployed individuals score higher than employed. These demographic variations should be considered when interpreting individual K10 scores against population averages.
K10 vs K6: Use K10 for Clinical Settings, K6 for Population Surveys
K10 provides greater precision (10 items vs 6) and is preferred for clinical monitoring. K6 was designed for brief population surveillance and is used in US national health surveys (NHANES, BRFSS, NSDUH). Both measure non-specific psychological distress but have different sensitivity profiles for mild vs severe distress.
K10 Score 25+ Warrants Clinical Mental Health Assessment
K10 scores of 25-29 (moderate distress) and 30-50 (severe distress) both warrant clinical mental health assessment. A score of 25-29 indicates likely GP mental health care plan with possible psychology referral. A score of 30+ warrants specialist psychiatric assessment, particularly when safety concerns are present.
Common Questions About Your Results
Evidence-Based Methodology
K10 developed by Kessler et al. (Psychol Med 2002) for the World Health Organization World Mental Health Survey. Internal consistency alpha 0.88-0.93. K10 score 30+ has sensitivity 0.42 and specificity 0.95 for any 12-month DSM-IV disorder. Australian national mental health surveys and Better Access Medicare program use K10 as the standard screening tool. Andrews and Slade (Aust N Z J Psychiatry 2001) validated K10 against CIDI interviews. K6 (Kessler et al., Arch Gen Psychiatry 2003) is the 6-item version used in US population surveys.
Clinical Content Trust
- Last reviewed:
- April 21, 2026
- Guideline version:
- General evidence framework v2026.04
- Source set version:
- Primary-source set v1
How to Interpret Your Result
Higher K10 totals indicate greater non-specific psychological distress and support deeper diagnostic follow-up.
When to Use This Tool
Use in primary care or behavioral-health triage when a concise global distress index is needed.
Limitations
K10 is non-specific and does not distinguish anxiety, depression, trauma, or substance-related causes without additional evaluation.
Disclaimer: This tool is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider with questions about your health.
Sources
Changelog
April 21, 2026 · trust-baseline
Clinical trust metadata enabled for this tool page with structured review/version fields.
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