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Generalized Anxiety Disorder Severity Scale Validation in Older Adults

From the Department of Psychiatry, Advanced Center for Interventions and Services Research for Late-life Mood Disorders and John A. Hartford Center of Excellence in Geriatric Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA (CA, PH, CC, SM); Division of General Internal Medicine, Center for Research on Health Care, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA (BHB, BLR); Department of Biostatistics, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA (SM); School of Social Work, Columbia University, NY (MKS); and Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO (EJL).

Objectives: The Generalized Anxiety Disorder Severity Scale (GADSS) is a validated measure of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) symptom severity. Given the high prevalence of GAD in the elderly and the need for a validated scale to assess GAD severity in this age group, the authors examined the psychometric properties of the GADSS in the elderly.

Design, Setting, Participants: The authors examined a sample of 134 elderly subjects (age 60 and above) who met diagnostic criteria for current GAD, 33 healthy elderly comparison subjects (age 60 and above) and 186 younger subjects (age 18–60) diagnosed with GAD.

Results: The GADSS had a high internal consistency in the elderly subjects (raw Cronbach’s = 0.76). Pearson correlations showed a significant positive correlation between GADSS, Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety and Penn State Worry Questionnaire. Pearson correlations showed an inverse significant correlation between GADSS and the Medical Outcome Study SF-36. There was no correlation between GADSS and Mini Mental State Examination or Cumulative Illness Rating Scale for Geriatrics.

Conclusions: The results showed a good convergent, concurrent, and discriminant validity of the GADSS when used for elderly with GAD. The authors conclude that GADSS is a valid measure of GAD symptom severity in older adults.

Key Words: Generalized anxiety disorder • elderly • severity scale