Screening for anxiety in patients with cancer: Diagnostic accuracy of GAD-7 items considering lowered GAD-7 cut-offs.

ABSTRACT:

Background

A standard questionnaire for generalized anxiety disorders is the GAD-7. Attempts to improve its screening capacity in oncological settings resulted in a discussion about lowering its cut-off. This study examines the diagnostic accuracy of the GAD-7 items depending on applied cut-offs and whether, similar to depressive symptoms, a distinction between somatic-emotional and cognitive items might be relevant.

Patients and methods

Screening data from 4705 patients with cancer who were treated at the outpatient clinic of the National Centre for Tumour Diseases in Heidelberg were analysed. For the individual GAD-7 items sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and Clinical Utility Index were determined for cut-off ≥ 7, ≥ 8, ≥ 10 and ≥ 15 in the

SUBMITTER: Grapp M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11731751 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature