Generalised Anxiety Disorder Assessment (GAD 7)

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This easy to use self-administered patient questionnaire is used as a screening tool and severity measure for generalised anxiety disorder.^1,2

The GAD-7 scale is available in the appendix of the IAPT toolkit.3 It is also available here

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. ³

Scores of 5, 10, and 15 are taken as the cut off points for mild, moderate, and severe anxiety, respectively. When used as a screening tool, further evaluation is recommended when the score is 10 or greater.
Using the threshold score of 10, the GAD-7 has a sensitivity of 89% and a specificity of 82% for generalised anxiety disorder. It is moderately good at screening three other common anxiety disorders – panic disorder (sensitivity 74%, specificity 81%), social anxiety disorder (sensitivity 72%, specificity 80%), and post-traumatic stress disorder (sensitivity 66%, specificity 81%).⁴

Acknowledgements EMIS is grateful to Dr Huw Thomas for writing this article. The final copy has passed scrutiny by the independent Mentor GP reviewing team. ©EMIS 2009.
Document ID: 8736
Document Version: 7
Document Reference: bgp26141
Last Updated: 30 Jun 2009
Planned Review: 29 Jun 2014