Mood disorders among medical in-patients: a validation study of the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HAD)

• Autor(a) principal: Botega, Neury J.
• Data de Publicação: 1995
• Outros Autores: Bio, Márcia R., Zomignani, Maria Adriana, Garcia Jr, Celso, Pereira, Walter A. B.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista de Saúde Pública
• Texto Completo: https://www.revistas.usp.br/rsp/article/view/24135
• topic: Depressão^i1^sepidemiolo; Ansiedade^i1^sepidemiol; Entrevista psiquiátrica padronizada; Pacientes internados; Depression^i2^sepidemiol; Anxiety^i2^sepidemiol; Mental status schedule; In-patients

The revised Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS-R) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) Scale were used to estimate the prevalence of mood disorders among 78 consecutive admissions to a general medical ward in a university general hospital in Brazil (43 males and 35 females; mean age = 43.2yr). Interviewers also completed a 5-point symptom severity scales for anxiety and depression. The definition of cases of anxiety [and depression] was based on two criteria: a. score >; 2 on the CIS-R section of anxiety [>; 4 on the CIS-R sections of depression and depressive ideas]; and b. score >; 2 on the clinical severity scale for anxiety [score >; 2 on the clinical severity scale for depression]. A 39% prevalence rate of affective disorders was found. Sixteen (20.5%) patients met criteria for anxiety, most of the disorders being of mild severity. Twenty-sic patients (33%) were depressed, 7 of them in a moderate degree. The HAD was easily understood by the patients. Anxiety and depression subscales had internal consistency of 0.68 and 0.77, respectively. At a cut-off point of 8/9 sensibility and specificity were 93.7% and 72.6% for anxiety, and 84.6% and 90.3% for depression. HAD items correlated positively with the respective subscales. To a lesser degree, they also correlated with the alternative subscale. Our findings confirm the high prevalence of mood disorders among medical in-patients. In clinical practice, the HAD may have a useful role in detecting those patients requiring further psychological care.