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What is the GAD-7 tool?
The Generalised Anxiety Disorder Assessment (GAD-7) is a seven-item instrument that is used to measure or assess the severity of generalised anxiety disorder (GAD). Each item asks the individual to rate the severity of his or her symptoms over the past two weeks. The GAD-2 is an ultra brief and easy to perform initial screening tool for Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). In primary care patients, the GAD-2 has been shown to has high sensitivity and specificity. The most common measure used to assess anxiety in treatment outcome studies is the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAM-A),7 8 which is a primary measure for generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) and is often used to assess general anxiety symptoms across conditions. The Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item depression scale (PHQ-9) and 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7) are among the best validated and most commonly used depression and anxiety measures, respectively. The GAD-7 score is calculated by assigning scores of 0, 1, 2, and 3, to the response categories of ‘not at all’, ‘several days’, ‘more than half the days’, and ‘nearly every day’, respectively, and adding together the scores for the seven questions. Are you always waiting for disaster to strike or excessively worried about things such as health, money, family, work, or school? If so, you may have a type of anxiety disorder called generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). GAD can make daily life feel like a constant state of worry, fear, and dread.
What is the GAD-7 screening tool?
The GAD-7 represents an anxiety measure based on seven items which are scored from zero to three. The whole scale score can range from 0 to 21 and cut-off scores for mild, moderate and severe anxiety symptoms are 5, 10 and 15 respectively [13]. At the cut-off score of 10 both sensitivity as well as specificity exceed . GAD-7 total score for the seven items ranges from 0 to 21. 0–4: minimal anxiety. 5–9: mild anxiety. 10–14: moderate anxiety. 15–21: severe anxiety. A score of 10 or greater on the GAD-7 represents a reasonable cut point for identifying cases of GAD. Cut points of 5, 10, and 15 might be interpreted as representing mild, moderate, and severe levels of anxiety on the GAD-7, similar to levels of depression on the PHQ-9. Score 0-4: Minimal Anxiety. Score 5-9: Mild Anxiety. Score 10-14: Moderate Anxiety. Score greater than 15: Severe Anxiety.