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Generalised anxiety disorder assessment

GAD-7

Medical Professionals

Professional Reference tools are designed for health professionals to use. They are written by UK doctors and based on research evidence, UK and European Guidelines, so you may find the language more technical than the condition leaflets.

This easy-to-use self-administered patient questionnaire is used as a screening tool and severity measure for generalised anxiety disorder (GAD).12

Generalised Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire (GAD-7)

Over the last two weeks, how often have you been bothered by any of the following problems?

Feeling nervous, anxious or on edge?
Not being able to stop or control worrying?
Worrying too much about different things?
Trouble relaxing?
Being so restless that it is hard to sit still?
Becoming easily annoyed or irritable?
Feeling afraid as if something awful might happen?

Result:

No result

Please ensure all questions above are answered.
Anxiety severity scale:
0-4:
No anxiety
5-9:
Mild anxiety
10-14:
Moderate anxiety
15-21:
Severe anxiety

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.

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 GAD. 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%).3

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Note about credits

The copyright for the GAD-7 was formerly held with Pfizer, who provided the educational grant for Drs Spitzer, Williams and Kroenke who originally designed it. In 2010, Pfizer made available both the PHQ-9 and the GAD-7 without copyright restriction and at no charge. As such, no permission is required to reproduce, translate, display or distribute the GAD-7.

Further reading and references

  1. Swinson RP; The GAD-7 scale was accurate for diagnosing generalised anxiety disorder. Evid Based Med. 2006 Dec 11(6):184.
  2. Spitzer RL, Kroenke K, Williams JB, et al; A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder: the GAD-7. Arch Intern Med. 2006 May 22 166(10):1092-7.
  3. Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JB, et al; Anxiety disorders in primary care: prevalence, impairment, comorbidity, and detection. Ann Intern Med. 2007 Mar 6 146(5):317-25.