Introduction
The GAD-7 was developed by Drs. Robert L. Spitzer, Janet B.W. Williams, Kurt Kroenke and colleagues, with an educational grant from Pfizer Inc. No permission required to reproduce, translate, display or distribute.
The GAD-7 is useful in primary care and mental health settings as a screening tool and symptom severity measure for the four most common anxiety disorders (Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Social Phobia and PostTraumatic Stress Disorder).
It is 70-90% sensitive and 80-90% specific across disorders / cutoffs (see Evidence section for more).
Higher GAD-7 scores correlate with disability and functional impairment (in measures such as work productivity and health care utilization). (Spitzer RL 2006) (Ruiz MA 2011)
The last item “How difficult have these problems made it for you to do your work, take care of things at home, or get along with other people?” – although not used in the calculation – is a good indicator of the patient’s global impairment and can be used to track treatment response.
YOU CAN USE THIS FORM BELOW TO ASSESS YOUR PATIENT AND PRINT IT OUT OR SAVE AS PDF FILE.
Literature
- Swinson RP; The GAD-7 scale was accurate for diagnosing generalised anxiety disorder. Evid Based Med. 2006 Dec 11(6):184.
- 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.
- 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.