VALIDATION OF 2 ANXIETY SCALES IN A UNIVERSITY PRIMARY-CARE CLINIC

Psychometric scales for the assessment of anxiety disorders have not b een validated in primary care settings. We undertook a study to valida te two brief, self-administered anxiety scales, Sheehan's Patient-Rate d Anxiety Scale and Beck's Cognition Checklist, in a university primar y care clinic. The two scales were compared with a diagnostic standard , the Structured Clinical Interview for the revised third edition of t he Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (SCID). Of 87 randomly selected p atients, 25 had an anxiety disorder by the SCID. Anxious patients scor ed statistically higher on both scales than nonanxious persons on both the Beck and Sheehan scales. Based on receiver operating characterist ics curve analysis, we found that these two scales correctly classifie d 72% to 77% of anxious patients. Of the two scales, the Sheehan scale performed better, with a specificity of 94% and positive predictive v alue of 75%. Our results suggest that these instruments may be useful in the assessment of the anxiety disorders in medical populations.