The Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-Item Scale in Adolescents with Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Signal Detection and Validation

Abstract

Background

In pediatric patients with anxiety disorders, existing symptom inventories are either not freely available or require extensive time and effort to administer. We sought to evaluate a brief self-report scale— the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7)—in adolescents with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).

Methods

The Pediatric Anxiety Rating Scale (PARS) and the GAD-7 were administered to youth with GAD (confirmed by structured interview). Relationships between the measures were assessed, and sensitivity and specificity was determined with regard to a global symptom severity measure (Clinical Global Impression-Severity).

Results

In adolescents with GAD (N = 40; mean age, 14.8 ± 2.8), PARS and GAD-7 scores strongly correlated (R = 0.65, P < .001) and a main effect for symptom severity was observed (P < .001). GAD-7 scores ≥11 and ≥17 represented the optimum specificity and sensitivity for detecting moderate and severe anxiety, respectively.

Conclusions

The PARS and GAD-7 similarly reflect symptom severity. The GAD-7 is associated with acceptable specificity and sensitivity for detecting clinically significant anxiety symptoms. GAD-7 scores may be used to assess anxiety symptoms and to differentiate between mild and moderate GAD in adolescents, and may be more efficient than the PARS.