The presence of depression is an important concern for patients with multiple sclerosis who are candidates for disease-modifying treatment, since depression may affect treatment adherence. The authors evaluated the positive predictive value of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Rating Scale (CES-D) in detecting depression among patients who were candidates for disease-modifying multiple sclerosis treatment. Of 47 patients who scored >/=16 on the CES-D, 74.5% (N=38) were found to have a depressive disorder. The results of the study indicate that case-finding for depressive disorders among multiple sclerosis patients can be facilitated by use of the CES-D scale.